Today's Mint has some detailed stories on the #Budget2019 along with stunning artworks by Jayachandran.
I've written a piece on jobs, moving fwd from dry stats and figures. It's a profile of a delivery exe for Amazon orders in way-out Wayanad. Stakeholders in a new India like him are chasing app-driven jobs/gigs, abv market wages, and, wherever possible, a formal jobs contract.
As jobs go, so does the nation. “Joe six-pack, who drinks beer and watches college football, makes $50,000 a year, and Ram-bharose makes ₹50,000 a year. It’s got nothing to do with Joe six-pack and Ram-bharose, it’s about being productive.’’
Anasuya Sengupta, who grew up in Kolkata and studied at Jadavpur University, has become the first Indian to win the Cannes Best Actor award.
"The Shameless," directed by Konstantin Bojanov, seems like a film mainstream Bollywood wouldn’t dare to finance or act in.
It looks🧵
at the harsh reality of a Delhi brothel, through the eyes of a woman on the run, acc to reports. The movie faced endless delays& financial nightmares before #Cannes2024.
Bojanov told The Hindu: “There were points when I nearly gave up on the film”. Tanmay Dhanania, one of the
film's stars (@tanmaydhanania), had blasted on IG about indie makers scraping for funds while clueless influencers get sponsored to walk the red carpet. It’s absurd. These actors had to resort to IG for support to attend Cannes. The lack of genuine support for these talents is
In 2003, he formed Believers Church, where he was practically the Pope.
Gospel For Asia, which he founded in 1979, supposedly raised $700 million for Indian charities btw 2003-2014. Over $100 million of this money allegedly disappeared annually.
He developed massive Indian and US homes and offices during this time. He ran a 2300-acre rubber estate, a large engineering and medical institution, and six schools in Kerala. He even had a football team, GFA FC, playing for Myanmar National League.
A story about journalistic curiousity, epic homes and 2000km bus rides to work.
Years ago, I came across this data: 7-9% of Kerala's middle- and low-income workforce disappears during Bihar's Chhath festival. After months of my editor pressing me to write about this, I dove in🧵
It was relatively an easy story. As a Malayali, this was my lived reality. Migrant workers were everywhere in Kerala, from your neighborhood tea chettan to carpenter to fishermen to front office staff. They were so common that Churches held Sunday masses in Odia, Hindi etc. But
further research stunned me: 1 in 4 adult males in Kerala were interstate migrants. Kerala employed 2.5 million people from Odisha, Bihar, Assam, UP, etc. Soon, they'll be 5 million. We published Great Indian Migration: Kerala's Silent Revolution. However t.ly/Xg9KX
Ordinary people who stand up for liberal causes despite opposition have my admiration. Here's one such story. C Shukoor, who made you laugh in #NnaThaanCaseKodu, is remarrying his wife of 29 years, Sheena, on this Women's Day. Why? It's political defiance to a 7th century law.
Under Muslim Personal Law in which he married first, his daughters will receive two-thirds of his money. The family's men would get the rest. Shukoor, a practicing Muslim, believes Islamic law as applied in Prophet Mohammed's day should not influence his daughters' inheritance.
He's remarrying Sheena Shukoor under the Special Marriage Act on Women's Day as a solution. He says it's not money but about respecting Article 15 of the Constitution, which says the State shall not discriminate any citizen on the ground of gender.
When an expat Malayali called home his parents ystdy, they had an obvious matter to discuss— the death of French filmmaker Godard. Why?
His father, a 70s Kerala film society product, had named him after Godard. His brother was named Fellini (who is a Malayalam filmmaker now) 🧵
Who was Godard for Keralites?
Half a dozen Malayalam books, several regional film fests (there was one even in Dec in Kannur)& vernacular magazine covers were dedicated to him. Radical Left film society devotees of 70s-80s pride themselves in saying, there is no God, only Godard
He’s venerated for showing what he showed in movies like Hail Mary. In Kozhikode, we were brought up on a steady supply of Godard diet by the likes of Chelavur Venu (a leader of film society movement). It was a pleasure to bunk classes for it.
Modern Malayalam movies wouldn't have been made without the suffering of coastal towns like #Beemapally in Trivandrum, which partly inspired #FahadFasil-Mahesh Narayanan's #Malik. It was also where modern Kerala had its worst bloodletting. It is quite a story.
Thread
Let's begin with Beema Beevi, believed to have magical powers to heal the sick& related to Prophet Mohammed's family. Her son Maheen Mohammed converted lower caste Hindus to Islam. A Hindu king killed him in a bloody battle. Unable to work through her sorrow, she died soon.
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Her followers immortalized her by giving her name to the town and building Beemapally Dargah Shareef—an architectural marvel, an imp pilgrim center, and also a big tourist attraction in Trivandrum. The annual Uroos there is celebrated to commemorate her death anniversary. 3/n