Mixed Shots

Sweeping Punishment

Early on, when the Covid curfew was enforced, we saw cops make people violating stay-at-home restrictions do the murga—squat, loop arms behind knees, and firmly hold the ears. Then unlockdown followed, with the caveat that anyone caught without a mask on his face must pay a fine. Still, the scofflaws couldn’t overcome their contempt for masks. And so, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation came up with a deterring punishment. Offenders were handed brooms or mops and made to sweep or clean stretches of roads if they refused or were unable to shell out the fine of Rs 200. Is it legal? The BMC bylaws empower it to ask people to do community service for littering, urinating or spitting on roads.

Aladdin’s Rs 1.5 Cr Lamp

The genie is out of the bottle—in UP’s Meerut. And here’s how it looks: a 21st century sequel to The Arabian Nights and as engrossing as Edgar A. Poe’s Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade. A Meerut physician was treating an “elderly” woman for some time and during the course of treatment, her two sons told him he could buy Aladdin’s lamp or chirag from a godman. The price quoted was Rs 1.5 crore; the promise was wealth and health. They even arranged a demo in which a genie appeared. The act was convincing—the special effects, one of the conmen in a genie’s outfit…much like Disney. He shelled out an advance of Rs 31 lakh and like magic the duo disappeared, as did the genie. There lies the rub. He reported the con and cops caught the duo. Between you, us, and the lamp, there’s a flying carpet up in the air. Want to buy?

A Note Of Concern

There was a time when Arabian cartographers used a high moral compass to make their maps, especially those of al Hind, or India. That was then. Cut back to 2020, a world map on the new 20 Riyal banknote, released to mark Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the G20 grouping, does not feature Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as part of India. Not done, right? India has asked the kingdom to take urgent corrective steps to rectify the misrepresentation of its territorial boundaries.

#NoShavePilot

When everyone’s talking about lockdown locks, did we miss the five o’clock shadow that has grown up to be a designer stubble, or scruff? Not all—especially the salt-and-pepper beards of our public figures who were clean-shaven before Covid took charge of our lives. Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah, M.S. Dhoni, and now Sachin Pilot. The Rajasthan Congress leader campaigned in MP and Bihar with his mane shining. But the Pilot makeover has spurred this question: why? Is he trying to answer Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot who, during the political crisis in July, said that “being handsome and speaking good English does not mean everything in politics”? We won’t pull our hair over that.

Brevis