"Who likes to fire crackers during Diwali?" asked the teacher.

About half of the nine-ten year olds in the classroom raised their hands.

"You should be ashamed," chided the teacher. "Crackers are harmful to our environment!"

The ones who did not raise their hands felt proud.

Since Tharoor has let the feline out of the Fendi, here are some of his daily routines that we know now.

* Perform Surya Namaskār so that the Sun has to rise
* Survey land to find out patches where not even a blade of grass grows
* Concoct new dishes by adding paneer to them

On the last one there's an adorable legend about Nehru that even Nehru would be surprised if he hears about it.

Nehru, rooted to the ground beneath his feet, was a nationalist at heart. While toying with green peas in his salad, he had an idea about national integration. Paneer.

Nehru, using his tremendous knowledge while discovering India (this was post-Independence, so no need to use _____), said that paneer could bind the nation together.

So he suggested adding paneer to dishes across India: paneer parantha, paneer pakoda, paneer idli, paneer khaman.

In an era when culinary creativity was a flatland, it was Nehru who raised the lone peak by adding paneer to biriyani, bisibele bath, basundi, uthappam, undhiyu, and sambar.

Soon, paneer began to proliferate with a culinary concupiscence (Tharoor's own words) not seen elsewhere.

Nehru, ever the international man of history, also realized the importance of paneer against the growing Chinese influence of tofu.

In a courageous display of cultural takeover through culinary conquest, Nehru added paneer to dumplings, fried rice, noodles. India 1. China 0.

The Greeks gave us democracy,
The Romans gave us numbers;
If not for their presence, you see,
We'll all be dumb-and-dumbers.

The French taught us revolution,
And gave us Left and Right;
Imagine our evolution,
Without this great divide.

The Germans gave maths and machines;
Philosophies galore;
If not for half-moustache obscene,
They would've given us more!

The British, too, gave us in spate,
They built all roads and tracks;
Without knowing their language great,
What worth our thoughts and acts?

Of course they gave us sins and priests,
To wake us up from stupor;
Before, we were uncivilized beasts;
After, we became super!

Italians, their gestures grand,
Taught us cooking and wine;
The world elsewhere was raw and bland,
We knew not how to dine.

The Spaniards, in their own way,
An inquisitive crowd;
Gave us dances and omelettes fey,
And tomatoes flung around.

The Swiss, even, from mountains cold,
Gave us chocolates and knives;
If not for them, let truth be told,
Will Hindi flicks survive?

Europe, the land of Arts and Science,
And Culture and Refinement;
If not for their exquisite lines,
We'll be in dark confinement!

Europe, they found out tail and head,
From fairy tales to bacillus;
So what in some places they spread,
A new disease like syphilis?! //

The morning was glorious like no other, for the August Sun was shining on Nehru-ji as it had never done before.

Wearing his trademark jacket, not a crease or a spot, and a lusty rose in the buttonhole, Nehru-ji looked as fresh as the morning dew, and this despite the midnight.

For, at the stroke of midnight, Nehru-ji had stepped on the podium, and had eloquently orated his speech, Tryst with Destiny.

Just like his intellectual descendant, Shashi-ji, Nehru-ji had spoken in English about India because his audience, like Shashi-ji's, was elsewhere.

As Nehru-ji basked in the morning Sun, he was envisioning - a man like Nehru-ji does not think, he envisions - the audience for the day, a day dedicated to his achievements since the speech.

Nehru-ji took out his Air Pods and instructed Siri in his clipped accent to play a song.

The title song from the movie Golmaal soon vibrated into his ears - no, not the one by Kishore Kumar for that was still far into the future, but the more contemporary one by Vishal Dadlani.

Unlike the blockheaded protagonists of the movie, Nehru-ji did not dance to the song.

Later, Nehru-ji was seated on a massive throne like that king of ancient India who he admired, Great the Akbar, and was flanked on both sides by celebrities he had personally known.

A Congress worker tied a pigeon to a rocket and launched it, signaling the start of celebrations.

The school reopened and after the rigmarole of logging in, the first class of the first day started.

"Good morning, children," beamed Padmaja, the Science teacher for the 5th standard. "How were your vacations?"

"I wrote a letter to the PM," said one with the screen name Marky.

Padmaja wondered why Maharshi became Marky, but she let it be.

"What did you write, Maharshi?" she asked.

"I wrote to him asking why constitutional provisions for freedom of speech were violated by his ministers, vitiating the principles of democracy."

Padmaja spilled her tea.

Before she could respond, Davey piped up with the lisp of a nine-year old, "A letter? So last century, Marky."

"Devi?" asked Padmaja, peering into the screen to take a good look at the kid.

"I recorded a HD video," said the kid, "asking the PM to reduce the GST on ambulances."

Padmaja took a deep breath and wondered whether she was in some cute but sinister nightmare.

"Anyone else?" she asked mockingly.

"I set up my YouTube channel," said Robby. "In my latest episode, I talked about minority rights during COVID-19."

"Roopini too?" thought Padmaja.

"I speak for those who cannot speak up," said Robby, "like my friend Safia."

Safia had not changed her screen name. She did not speak up.

"You speak for me too?" asked a voice.

"Shut up, Dinesh Jain!"

"Enough!" said Padmaja, exasperated, and said, "What did you do, Karnika?"

A few thoughts on Tooter, since it's trending and being discussed.

The landing page makes the indigenous angle quite apparent: "MADE IN INDIA" under the logo and "A Swadeshi social network" as the tagline.

It only accepts a Gmail or Yahoo! email address, for whatever reasons.

Tooter has taken to heart the indigenous angle, even comparing the American Twitter India with the British East India company.

I have no problems with this, for this is a pitch that Tooter has decided to grow.

Tooter is forked from Mastodon, which, to me, has been a sore point.

Mastodon has been around for some time, and if you remember, had become temporarily popular as left-liberals had infested the place.

After some trolling Mastodon went rogue and suspended accounts (yes, mine too).

Inditoot was based on Mastodon then, but was eventually shutdown.

While I agree that Tooter is a fork, and probably not dependent on the whims of Mastodon, the wholly indigenous part becomes simply a marketing pitch.

Someone knowledgeable can explain what a fork carries over and depends on.

Even the app is based on existing Mastodon apps.

Tooter started out on the wrong toot, I mean foot, by creating and verifying accounts of Prof. Vaidya, and making people automatically follow that. In fact, newly created accounts also automatically follow the founder, Nanda.

Prof. Vaidya has now said that he is NOT on Tooter.

101 years ago today, Islam reemerged in modern America with the arrival in Philadelphia of a sage and scholar named Mufti Muhammad Sadiq.

Follow along as we recount his story alongside a brief history of Muslims in the United States. (1/16)
#100YearMovement

The presence of Islam in America dates back to the 13 colonies, when West Africans were enslaved and brought to the new world against their will. Many were Muslim and continued to practice their faith even as it was impossible for them to live freely. (2/16)
#BlackHistoryMonth

But by the end of the 19th century, Islam as a religion in the U.S. started to wane. The descendants of Muslim slaves had little connection to their forefathers, though some had inherited relics such as prayer mats and copies of the Holy Quran. (3/16)

Around the same time Islam was fading in America, a new spiritual movement was awakening halfway across the world.

It was known as the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, founded in 1889 by Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India. (4/16)
#PromisedMessiah

Ahmad claimed to be the awaited latter day reformer and Messiah for all religions, who came to revive the true and essential teachings taught by the Holy Prophet of Islam. His movement began as a small group in an Indian village and has grown to millions worldwide today. (5/16)

Many have accused the Narendra Modi government of not doing enough to change the biased historical narratives set in motion during the 54 years of Congress rule.
The #ChauriChaura centenary celebrations is one such initiative to set right, a historical wrong.

Thread begins.

What is the Chauri Chaura incident?
On February 4, 1922 at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, a procession was taken out in support of Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement.
The police, on orders from the British government, fired on the peaceful march, triggering an outrage.

First a little background to the incident and why the face-off happened with the British administered police.
The protest was called against the atrocities that was unleashed on the locals when the Non Cooperation movement started in Gorakhpur. Several leaders were arrested.

A group of 2,000 people gathered to protest as part of Gandhi's call for Non Cooperation with the British. The crowd swelled soon.
The police were ordered to fire in the air to disperse the crowd. This further agitated them.
Then the police fired at the protestors, injuring many.

Rudrapatnam Shamashastry – The #Mahamahopadyaya who discovered Chanakya’s Arthashastra.
On his Jayanti a tribute to the legendary #Kannadiga who proved Bharatiya Civilization had robust Ancient Political & Economic policy & not copied from Greek as Europeans claimed.
Let us

begin His-tory whose Literary Works gives Goosebumps to every Bharatiya.
R Shamashastry’s modern translation of Arthashastra is a prescribed text at Harvard, Yale and Oxford for students of Political Science, International Relations and Economics today.
Until this discovery, the

the Arthashastra was known only through references to it in works, including those by Dandin, Bana, Vishnusarma, Mallinathasuri, Megasthenes, as well as others. This discovery was "an epoch-making event in the history of the study of ancient Indian polity".

It altered the

perception of Ancient Bharath and changed the course of history studies, notably the false belief of European scholars at the time that Indians learnt the art of administration from the Greeks.
Shamasastry received a Ph.D Citation from Oriental University of Washington in 1919

and the Campbell Memorial Gold Medal from the Royal Asiatic Society, Mumbai Chapter, in 1921. Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV conferred on him the title “Arthashastra Visharada” in 1926 while the Viceroy and the Governor General of India conferred the title “Mahamahopadyaya” in 1930.

Here are my coffee highlights of 2020: I tried the following roasters from India: Blue tokai, Kapi kottai, Corridor seven, Subko, Curious Life, Black baza, Karma Kaapi, QBF, El Bueno, Beanrove, Third Wave.

Most ordered coffee: Corridor Seven Riverdale, Mind=blown from Kapi kottai, Ratnagiri espresso from Curious Life, BT's Riverdale. Orchardale estate and Hoysala.

Best coffees of 2020 (as per my judgment). 1. Riverdale from BT 2. Curveball from Kapi Kottai 3. Hoysala from BT 4. Producer Lot series 1.

Best and most consistent roaster in 2020: @BlueTokaiCoffee hand down! Great experimentation on the producer series front and also delivering great coffees across 2020. What a comeback!

Best espresso coffee: Hoysala estate and Ratnagiri espresso from Curious Life. Hoysala is an all-rounder coffee, works great with milk also works well for an americano.

#Thread
Why To Avoid Western Style Birthday Celebrations ?

We all agree that Birthday is a very special and auspicious day for all of us.

If it is so special then why do we celebrate it in inauspicious way?
@Anshulspiritual @mysql_sync
@Vedicphilosophy

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Birthdays celebrated as per tithi (a lunar day) are very pious, because we receive a lot of Chaitanya (Divine consciousness) on this day. This Chaitanya should be utilized to the fullest.
@nsbchd @khanna248 @nehasaini0204

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Let us understand few things which can be avoided during birthday celebrations & receive maximum blessings from Bhagawan:-

1. Never wish or celebrate birthdays at midnight, instead this should be done after sunrise. @Poornimachouha8 @Vaidyvoice

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Please understand that as per Hindu Culture a day starts from sunrise and not from midnight. During midnight the Tamas and Rajas particles (negative particles) are highly predominant in the atmosphere and also there is lots of..
@SuvarnBharat @vijayashreenair

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negative energy is present in the atmosphere during midnight. So doing any auspicious celebrations/giving greetings during such time doesn't give good results to the individual.On the other hand the time after sunrise is considered as the time of spiritual practice..+

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