DailyOh! How police reached Rajiv Gandhi killer Nalini, to why UAE has hope in Mars

Be a rebel but be that till Friday, July 24. What Sachin Pilot and the 18 other MLAs from his party can be after July 24 will be decided by the Rajasthan High Court. The court has said till that day, the Speaker should not take any action against them for being what they want to be. You can be what you want to be beyond July 24.

But coronavirus may not be the infectious virus that it is by the end of this year or the start of next. The Oxford University’s experimental version of vaccine was revealed to be safe and to generate a strong immune response in the people who volunteered to help trial it. This is good news for the world, but the best news for India because Indian firm Serum Institute will be manufacturing it. If all goes well, the vaccine could be available for less than Rs 1,000 to people. It could also be free if the government decides to pay for it. But all that depends on how the trials go. If there is one thing coronavirus taught us, it is, ANYTHING can go wrong ANY TIME.

Like Madhya Pradesh lost its Governor this morning: Lal Ji Tandon died. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee protégé was 85. Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged Tandon’s achievements in strengthening the BJP unit in Uttar Pradesh.

But Union minister Prakash Javadekar decided to list the achievements of the man who is not his party member. Javadekar listed out Rahul Gandhi’s achievements. This, after Rahul Gandhi listed out the achievements of the Modi government early morning.

कोरोना काल में सरकार की उपलब्धियां:● फरवरी- नमस्ते ट्रंप● मार्च- MP में सरकार गिराई● अप्रैल- मोमबत्ती जलवाई● मई- सरकार की 6वीं सालगिरह● जून- बिहार में वर्चुअल रैली ● जुलाई- राजस्थान सरकार गिराने की कोशिशइसी लिए देश कोरोना की लड़ाई में 'आत्मनिर्भर' है।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 21, 2020

May: 6th anniversary of the historic defeat of the Congress;June: Defending China; July: Congress on virtual collapse in Rajasthan@BJP4India @JPNadda @BJP4Maharashtra @INCIndia

— Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) July 21, 2020

But late last night, Nalini Sriharan attempted suicide inside prison. Nalini who? The woman convicted in the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. She is currently at the Vellore Special Prison for Women, and made the attempt to kill herself a full 29 years after being in jail.

According to her advocate Pugalenthi, it all started with Nalini getting into a quarrel with another inmate; as the quarrel escalated, the matter was escalated to the jailer after which she attempted to kill herself.

Pugalenthi says it started with the quarrel, but it started much earlier. Actually it all started 27 years ago, on May 21, when Nalini accompanied Subha, Dhanu, Sivarasan and Haribabu to Rajiv Gandhi’s election rally at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.

Once there, Nalini sat in the area reserved for women and watched a music programme even as Sivarasan took Dhanu into the VIP enclosure. Dhanu triggered the bomb which killed Rajiv, also Dhanu and others. On May 22, the CBI took over the case. A manhunt was launched to catch the men and women involved in the assassination.

On May 23, a man named Shankar was arrested from Thanjavur. Shankar had a diary and that diary had the details of the private firm where Nalini worked.

The police also recovered a camera that had photos of Sivarasan, Dhanu, Subha and Nalini. On May 25-26, Nalini travelled to Tirupati along with Murugan, her husband, and Sivarasan.

Meanwhile, all possible hideouts of Nalini were under watch.

Murugan moved to the press of Nalini’s brother. Nalini visited him there every day. They spent time together and before leaving, Nalini would buy him food.

Bhagyanathan, the brother who owned the press, was arrested soon. To begin with, the police did not have the details of what most of the assassins, including Nalini, looked like. But Nalini’s photo started being circulated in the press soon. She believes it happened because someone close leaked out the details to the police.

On June 14, less than a month after the assassination, Nalini and her husband were arrested from Saidapet bus stop in Chennai. That was in the dead of the night. Nalini was two months pregnant at the time of her arrest. In July 2019, she got her first 30-day parole to attend the wedding of the girl who was born to her in jail.

She may now find there is no reason to live or that she wants to live but the conditions around are not fit to live. It could be both. It could be neither. Not everybody finds it fit to live where they live. Or they change places just for a change. Like Elon Musk wants to move to Mars. Like many people buying land on Moon.

Talking of the urge to move into space, UAE yesterday blasted off the first Arab mission to Mars. The mission is UAE’s but was launched aboard a rocket from Japan.

There is hope the mission will reach Mars by February 2021. Interestingly, the mission is also named hope. We mean the mission is named Amal, which means hope.

Liftoff of the UAE's Hope Mars mission! pic.twitter.com/2MVRRPoC2O

— Loren Grush (@lorengrush) July 19, 2020

Amal is expected to reach Mars’s orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates.

The aim of Mission Amal is to provide a comprehensive image of the weather dynamics in the red planet’s atmosphere, but that is just the small part of it. The large part of it hopes to build a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years.

Amal, the Word Of The Day, which is a mission for the next 100 years, has an Arabic origin where it means hope or expectation. In Hebrew language, Amal means 'work'. Taken together in Arabic and Hebrew, don’t just sit and hope. Do your job and hope for the best. Best, however, is to not hope for anything. That keeps the room for disappointment small.

If Mission Amal succeeds in its ‘100-year plan’, we could have houses with big rooms and huge windows on Mars. Will we have to come to Earth for shopping or online deliveries would work? We will know in about 100 years from now.

But today, Anurag Kashyap doesn’t know who Kangana Ranaut is. She maybe the top trend on Twitter every second day, but that is not the Kangana Anurag knew. This new one, he doesn’t know.

The new Kangana has been saying a lot of things since the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. Speaking on the topic, the Mumbai Police investigating Sushant’s death have said that the actor had stopped taking his medication for depression just days before he died by suicide. The suicide of former manager Disha Salian had reportedly left him further depressed.

The police are saying this based on what psychiatrists, psychotherapists and Sushant’s friends are saying to the police. The final word on Sushant’s death is however still to be spoken.

We don’t know when that will happen. But Dil Bechara releases on July 24, the same day the Rajasthan HC rules on Rajasthan rebels.

Don’t lose control, but be whatever you want to be. Need inspiration? Listen to this.

We leave you with that for today.

Stay safe, but do not rely on N-95 masks with valved respirators to keep you safe.

We will see you tomorrow.

Also Read: No community spread means no community spread