DailyOh! Rahul Gandhi tests Covid positive, to how Bollywood is spoiling Maldives for others
We had our eyes fixed on May 2, and then last evening, the gaze shifted to May 1. May 1 is now the day. May Day, or Workers’ Day, it always was, but now it is also the day when you become eligible for a vaccine jab in India if you are an adult. But a caveat: Just because May 1 is when vaccination for all adults takes off, vaccination may not be available for all. We will get to the vaccine in a bit.
First, the news on Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader today tweeted he has tested positive for coronavirus and is experiencing mild symptoms. Over 2.59 lakh others too were found positive today. So the need to boost vaccination supply is growing by the minute.
You see approved vaccine manufacturers will have to supply 50 per cent of their stock to the central government and then feel free to sell the rest of the 50 per cent to states and in the open market. The Centre will, of course, supply its share of the stock to states based on who has how many active cases and who is vaccinating how fast. All you need to do is look for your Aadhaar card and keep it handy. Important documents have a tendency to go missing at important times. But we have reminded you well in advance so that you can search all places well.
Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean you are careful with your documents. Much like being an adult is no guarantee for being mature. Even though a slight digging of the word adult may say so. So let’s get digging because adult is our Word Of The Day. Adult comes from the Latin word adultus, which is a form of adolescere. Adolescere means to ‘grow to maturity’. You may grow, but you may not grow to maturity. Not like maturity is a permanent state. Just like it can come - trust us on that - it can also go. So, we have to assign a number to maturity as a marker. In India that number is 18. So is the case with the US. So, at 18 we are allowed to vote.
Rights come with responsibilities. What do responsibilities come with? More responsibilities. Oxford dictionary defines adult as ‘a fully grown person, who is legally responsible for their actions’. Legally, do not forget, an 18-year-old adult doesn’t have the right to drink. The good news, legally, every Indian adult aged 18 and above can get the vaccine.
The government will come up with guidelines on the rest of the process shortly.
For now what we have is the Covid surge. Maharashtra has tightened curbs, with even essential stores to open only from 7 am to 11 am. Home delivery, meanwhile, can happen only from 7 am to 8 pm. Delhi Metro services, clubbed as an essential service this time, are operational from 7 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 8 pm only, with a frequency of 15 minutes. You might say opening essential services for shorter hours may invite greater rush than longer hours, but the government isn’t listening.
What does the UK have to say about the Indian surge? People from India not allowed in UK (for now). If you are a UK citizen in India you can, of course, fly back. But you will have to undergo a compulsory quarantine of 11 nights in a hotel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, has cancelled his Portugal trip. PM Modi was to visit Portugal to attend the 16th India-EU summit on May 8. The Portugal trip was to extend to France. While the Portugal trip stands cancelled, the trip to France stands postponed.
We will talk about the France trip when it happens. Today, let’s talk about Portugal. In 2017, Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Portugal on a bilateral trip. Portuguese PM Antonio Costa returned that visit by visiting India on December 19-20, 2019. PM Costa was invited by PM Modi to participate in the meeting of the committee to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. While Costa was part of this committee, President Ram Nath Kovind was its chair.
But did you know why PM Costa was called the Gandhi of Lisbon? Before we tell you that, let us tell you about Costa’s other India connection. It has nothing to do with coffee.
So, Antonio Costa is the son of Goan Communist poet Orlando da Costa. Orlando da Costa is known for his essays on Rabindranath Tagore. Antonio has Indian origins. Goan origin, to be precise. His Indian origin reflects in his pet name - Babush, which means 'little boy' in Konkani.
If his father took to poetry, Costa took to politics. Costa was elected mayor of Lisbon for three consecutive terms. Lisbon was infamous for drug trafficking and prostitution. Known for his frugal lifestyle, Antonio moved his office to the Mouraria neighbourhood, which was the hub of all illicit activities in Lisbon. He worked in the area and transformed it into an upcoming construction colony. The Gandhian ways he adopted in his work got him the title 'Gandhi of Lisbon'. You can call him Antonio Costa and his work remains the same. The global situation amid the pandemic is no longer the same. So PM Modi can’t go meet PM Costa.
Bollywood actors and actresses, meanwhile, are flocking to Maldives and our guess is that there is a major discount on offer. Else they would have gone to different locations and not just one.
The rich strive for exclusivity lest you say they don’t have to strive for anything. So the discounts don’t just have to exist, they need to be tempting. If the tourism department of Maldives has extended the discounts, the strategy to boost tourism has backfired. Many on Twitter say Bollywood has ruined Maldives for them and they would never go there.
Remember the storm that hit Bollywood last year? Yes, Sushant Singh Rajput’s death and the drugs case. Sushant’s father KK Singh has moved the Delhi High Court to ban movies based on his son’s life. KK Singh’s petition says people are using his son’s death as an "opportunity to get fame by developing different theories/stories, at the cost of his and his family’s reputation".
The petition referred to films like Nyay: The Justice, Suicide or Murder: A Star Was Lost and Shashank. The HC court has summoned the makers.
If you are looking for what you should watch, we recommend Geeli Puchhi. Geeli Puchhi is Neeraj Ghaywan’s short story in Ajeeb Daastaans, which is a collection of four short stories. The tale is brilliant because it has a subtle twist.
Watch all the four tales, if you want to. But even if you want to, don’t step out of your home. That is where the virus is.
Stay home. Stay safe.
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Also Read: The vaccine emergency