INDIA’S LARGEST ENGLISH NEWSPAPER

APRIL 26, 2020 | METRO | PAGES 14

O F I N D I A
After backlash over Trump’s ‘disinfectant GLOBAL COVID-19 DEATH TOLL Republican politician Nikki Haley Minister Nitin Gadkari says, ‘There is
injection’ remark, White House plans to HITS 200,000 and the number of launches an online petition against great hatred against China’, urges
change briefings to limit Prez’s role. New infected people crosses 2.8 million. China China, asserting that it needs to be industry to take advantage of the
York reports a spike in cases of people approves its third Covid-19 vaccine for held accountable for ‘lying’ opportunity to make items for which
calling about ingesting bleach second phase of clinical trials about the pandemic nation is dependent on China, P 8
BENGALURU PRICE `5 (``7.50 WITH BANGALORE MIRROR ON SUNDAY)

LOCKDOWN
DAY
32
Neighbourhood shops may India cases cross 26,000;
‘SSLC exams to
be held after
reopen in state tomorrow another big spike in Maha
lockdown ends’ Mumbai Count INDIA@25K: HOW CASES HAVE RISEN
S chool education minis-
ter S Suresh Kumar said
SSLC exams will be con-
Decision After NO ADD-TO-CART: Karnataka is Surges By Over No. of cases No. of days it took Times rise*

Residents in
5,000 5000x
ducted this year, dispelling
rumours that the state gov- CM Meet With Bengaluru’s
Hongasandra,
11th state with 600 In A Day
ernment was planning to 10,000 68 2x
scrap them in view of the Covid Team a containment
zone, were 500 patients DurgeshNandan.Jha
@timesgroup.com
pandemic. “A decision on allowed to come
15,000 1.5x
the future course of action Anil.Gejji@timesgroup.com onto roads to Bengaluru: The number of New Delhi: India crossed 6
will be taken after May 3, Covid-infected people in Kar-
buy essential the grim milestone of 25,000
5 1.33x
once the lockdown is re- Bengaluru: Taking cue from items on
nataka touched 500 on Satur- Covid-19 cases — ending the 20,000 3
laxed,” he said. The Class 10 the Centre, the BSY govern- day but the state drew solace day above 26,000 — as Maha-
state board exams were to ment is likely to allow neigh-
Saturday
from being the 11th state in the rashtra registered another 4 1.25x
start on March 27. P 2 bourhood standalone shops LIKELY TO OPEN REMAIN SHUT country to reach the mark. A record rise in patients. A 25,000 * Shows how many times cases
month ago, Karnataka was have risen from the last milestone
providing non-essential go- staggering 811 new cases we-
➤ Neighbourhood stores, ➤ Restaurants
UGC panel ods to reopen from Monday
shops in housing complexes
the third worst-hit state, after
Kerala and Maharashtra.
re added to the state’s tally on Growth MUCH SLOWER Than Worst Countries
across the state, barring hots- ➤ Hair salons, beauty parlours Saturday, 602 of these in Average %age increase in infections at stages of 10k, 20k & 25k cases
(within municipal limits) Bengaluru accounted for
wants colleges pots and containment zones.
“The government will is- ➤ Includes those selling ➤ Liquor and cigarette outlets half of the 26 fresh infections
Mumbai alone.
Maharashtra accounted
CASES 10,000 20,000 25,000

reported in the past 24 hours US 35.9 37.0 37.0

to start in Sept sue an order in this regard on
Sunday or Monday,” chief se-
T he new academic year
for universities and col-
leges can start from Sep-
cretary TM Vijaya Bhaskar
told TOI on Saturday. CM BS
Yediyurappa and the state’s
tember instead of July in
FULL COVERAGE | P 2 - 10
view of the Covid-19 pan-
demic, a panel appointed by
and Covid-19 taskforce will
the University Grants Com- discuss the matter on Sunday.
mission (UGC) has said.
Students may not have win-
Late Friday, the Centre is-
sued guidelines allowing ope-
ter holidays next year. P 6 ning of shops in residential
and market complexes outsi-
10th Bhopal de municipal limits and all
neighbourhood standalone
casualty also a
1984 gas victim Bringing back
mobile phones, garments,
hardware and stationery
(Decision in state after meeting
on Sunday; relaxations as
➤ In rural areas, all
standalone shops can open
notified by MHA don’t apply to
hotspots and containment zones)
 After chaos, Centre spells out reopening rules, P 6
shops. Shops within residen-
tial complexes were also allo-
wed within municipal limits,
excluding containment zo-
nes. The shops will have to
function with 50% staff, wea-
ring masks and gloves. These
include garment shops, sta-
5 states join Delhi, in favour of
tioneries, mobile phone out-
lets and hardware stores. The
Centre, however, said barber
shops , liquor outlets and res-
taurants would remain clo-
sed till May 3.
 Complete lockdown, P 4
while nine patients were from
Belagavi. One case each was
reported from Mysuru, Daks-
hina Kannada, Chikkaballa-
pura and Mandya.
The cluster in Hongasand-
ra added nine cases. The yo-
ungest patient is a six-year-old
boy while the eldest is a 90-ye-
ar-old man. The patients from
Mysuru and Mandya are con-
nected to the Nanjangud clus-
ter, with primary contacts be-
ing pharma employees. TNN
for nearly half of Saturday’s
national corona count, Germany 29.1 28.1 25.3
which at 1,715 was the se-
cond-highest recorded for a
single day so far, 30 short of
Spain
UK
31.6
19.9
23.3
18.7
20.5
17.6
1,755 reported on Thursday. Italy 22.1 20.1 17.3
India’s total number of Co-
vid-19 cases stood at 26,270, as India 12.9 8.7 7.6
per latest figures collated
from state governments, pla-
cing it at 16th spot among co-
Growth rate dips 6k+ Indians ill
untries with the highest co-
ronavirus counts.
to 6% in 24 hrs abroad, 40 dead
India also crossed the 800-
mark in deaths, with 43 repor- I ndia recorded 6% growth
in new cases on a single N early 6,300 Indians abro-
ad have tested positive
ted on Saturday, taking the to-
tal to 821. Maharashtra led he-
day, from 8am Friday to 8am
Saturday, which is the low-
of Covid-19 and 40 of them
died, according to govern-
re too. It recorded maximum
22 fresh fatalities (13 of these
est daily growth rate record-
ed since the country crossed
ment sources. Singapore
and Gulf countries together

A ll of Bhopal’s 10 Co-
vid-19 casualties are mortal remains
from Mumbai), followed by
six deaths each in Madhya
100 cases, the government
said on Saturday. The cur-
account for more than 50%
of the infections. The num-
victims of the 1984 gas trag-
edy. And all of them tested
positive after death. They allowed: MHA curbs in hotspots beyond May 3 Pradesh and Gujarat.

 Guj toll 2nd highest, P 10

are vulnerable to Covid-19 Ishita Mishra &
as exposure to the gas in Yogesh Kumar TNN
1984 damaged their lungs
and compromised other or- New Delhi: A day after im-
gans, and left them with migration officials at IGI Air-
weakened immunity. P 5 port returned the body of 24-
Govt relief likely
year-old Kamlesh Bhatt, who
had died of a heart attack in
Abu Dhabi, citing an MHA or-
for MSMEs, poor der that prohibited receiving
rent death rate is around
3.1% while the recovery rate
is more than 20%. P 6
ber of the infected Indian
nationals has almost doub-
led from 3,336 on April 16. P 6
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Panic before TN’s
Evacuation ops
A Re-infection cannot
day after the Delhi go-
vernment said the district clampdown
lockdown would have
to be continued till May 16 in T amil Nadu government’s
gather steam
the national capital, five sta-
tes — Maharashtra, Madhya
four-day ‘complete’
lockdown in the ‘red’ hotspot
districts of Chennai, Madurai, across states be ruled out: WHO
T
Pradesh, Bengal, Punjab and Coimbatore, Tiruppur and he WHO said on Satur-
TIMES NEWS NETWORK ‘NO IMMUNITY PASSPORT’
Odisha — on Saturday vee- Salem from Sunday led to day that there was cur-
➤ WHO’s warning has come

D iscussions in the govern-

ment on the stimulus
any such “cargo” from outsi-
de India, the MHA on Satur-
day released an office memo-
have pointed to the need to randum on the issue.
provide support to the poor, The memorandum said ac-
by expanding PDS, and help- ceptance of mortal remains
ing MSMEs. Minister Nitin of Indian nationals/OCI card-
Gadkari has talked about a holders are permitted subject
Rs 1 lakh crore fund to the to strict adherence to guideli-
sector which accounts for a nes/instructions by various
large chunk of manufactur- ministries and departments
ing activity and jobs.P 5 related with management of
Covid-19 and submission of
3 brothers die no objection from ministries
of health and external affairs.
within 20 days  New SOP for bodies, P 5
red towards extending curbs
in hotspots of their states be-
yond May 3.
Six other states — Guja-
rat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh and Karnataka —
said they would follow the
Centre’s directive, while As-
sam, Kerala and Bihar would
take a call after PM Narend-
ra Modi’s video conference
with states/UTs on Monday.
Telangana, the only state to
have already extended the
lockdown, said it would take
a call two days before the
panic buying, with thousands
hitting the markets without
masks or distancing. There
were traffic jams and
crowding in markets as police,
badly outnumbered, strug-
A ‘queue’ of tiffin boxes for
gled to maintain order. P 6
food in Noida on Saturday
curb ends on May 7. video conference with the
Maharashtra health mi- PM on Monday. If required,
nister Rajesh Tope backed we will extend the lockdown
extension of lockdown in the for 15 more days. It may only
containment zones in Mum- be for the containment zo-
bai and Pune, which account
for 92% of the total cases in
nes, if not for the entire
Mumbai and Pune,” he said.
the state, till May 18. “A dis-
cussion will be taken in the  3 non-BJP states, P 10
A s the national lockdown
entered its fifth week,
an unprecedented cross-co-
untry evacuation exercise
to bring back migrant wor-
kers and other people stran-
ded in different states appe-
ared to gather momentum
on Saturday.
Punjab sent 80 buses to
ferry back Sikh pilgrims
stuck in Maharashtra and
UP prepared to bring back
at least 9,500 labourers from
Haryana by Sunday.
 Job creation in UP, P 10
rently “no evidence”
that people who have recove-
red from Covid-19 are protec-
amid reports that some
countries are planning to
ted from a second coronavi- give “immunity passports” to
people who have recovered
rus infection.
from Covid-19
The UN agency warned
➤ It says giving certificates
nations against issuing “im-
to such people could increase
munity passports” or “risk-
free certificates” to people the risk of continued virus
spread as recovered patients
who have been infected as the-
may stop taking precautions
ir accuracy could not be gua-
ranteed. The practice could ve suggested that detection of
increase the risk of continu- antibodies ... could serve as
ed spread as people who have
recovered may ignore advice
the basis for an ‘immunity
passport’ that would enable
about taking precautions, it
said. “Some governments ha-
individuals to travel or to re-
turn to work,” it said. P 10

A 44-year-old man of a Mo-

radabad family died of

B’luru man beats Covid, Lawyer ‘appears’

OBITUARY
Covid-19 on Saturday. His el-
der brother had succumbed
to the disease on April 13.
Their eldest brother, 70, had in vest, HC judge
died due to an “unknown”
disease and was buried se-
cretly on April 5. P 5 set to be 1st plasma donor
Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com antigens like viruses. This
adjourns hearing
Joychen.Joseph@timesgroup.com
Jaipur: A Rajasthan HC
Treated TJ patients convalescent plasma offers judge adjourned the hearing
Bengaluru: A 40-year-old hope for Covid-19 patients. on a bail plea after the pet-
man, treated for Covid-19 in ready to be donors “I read about plasma the- itioner’s counsel “appeared”
Bengaluru, is the first plas- rapy and learnt that HCG before the court wearing a
ma donor in Karnataka. O f the 142 Tablighi Jamaat
members who were was applying to conduct cli- vest during a video-hearing of

O wing to the extraordinary

circumstances created by
Covid-19 pandemic, Times Life
Praveen (name changed),
who hails from Kerala and
works in Bengaluru, volun-
will temporarily appear teered to donate convale-
within the main edition of scent plasma to help a pati-
The Times of India. However, ent in critical condition.
quarantined at AIIMS, Jhajjar,
129 have recovered, and many
of them have agreed to donate
their blood for plasma therapy
to treat patients in Delhi. The
hospital is now working on the
nical trials. I connected with
Dr Vishal Rao, principal in-
vestigator. I’ll do anything
needed to help patients,”
Praveen told STOI. He’ll un-
dergo tests on Monday to
a case on Saturday .
The single-judge bench of
Justice Sanjeev Prakash said:
“Keeping in view that the pet-
itioner’s counsel was not in
proper uniform, this matter is

it will continue to bring you Clinical trials of plasma
its cutting edge lifestyle therapy, approved by the
content every Sunday. Drug Controller General of
To rev up your life with India, were launched at the
P 1( Bengaluru Medical College
Times Life, turn to
and Research Institute on
Saturday. The trials are in
collaboration with city-ba-
sed HCG Private Ltd.
Turn to Page 3 About 55% of blood is
logistics for donation. Some
members have also agreed to
give their blood sample for
future research. P 5
plasma, the almost clear liqu-
id part. The plasma of a per-
son cured of an illness conta-
ins antibodies, protective pro-
teins that fight disease and
confirm if he can be a donor.
This HR professional was
working in Dubai and retur-
ned to India on March 20.
At Kempegowda Interna-
tional Airport, his hand was
stamped to ensure 14 days of
home quarantine.
 One more offer, P 4
Ali
adjourned (till May 5).”
The lawyer, Ravindra Ku-
mar Paliwal said, “I was wait-
ing for a call from the court in
uniform. But I did not receive
a call. I came to know of the in-
cident only when I saw the
court order. Perhaps the court
staff connected the call to a
wrong person.”

Ray ‘classics’ tumble out 3 kids infected, mom

SRI. C.N. RAVI KIRAN
in son’s lockdown clean-up stays along in hospital B.Kishansingh@timesgroup.com In full PPE, the
Chairman , East West Group of Insitutions , Bengaluru
Photo courtesy: The Ray family

Priyanka.Dasgupta
@timesgroup.com
Hubballi: For 12 days now, the
32-year-old is not Born:22-04-1973 Died: 25-04-2020
Kolkata: Feluda might be mother of three children who allowed to touch her
proud of what filmmaker tested positive for Covid-19 children, aged 3, 5 S/o Late C.M. Nagaraj, Founder Chairman,
Sandip Ray did during the has been staying with them in
lockdown — snoop around hospital though she has tested
and 7. Her presence, East West and S.V.N. Group of Institutions ,
however, has calmed
the attic of his Bishop Lefroy negative. Doctors said they
had to bring her to the isolated the kids, nurses say Former Mayor, BBMP, Bengaluru.
Road house in south Kolkata
to discover a treasure trove ward with special permission rities took the children and
of Satyajit Ray memorabilia
tucked away without anyone
as the kids, aged three to se-
ven, would not stop crying, de-
father to Karnataka Institute
of Medical Sciences (KIMS).
We regret to inform sad demise of
seemingly knowing about its
existence.
manding to see her.
The children — two boys
The mother was sent to a go-
vernment quarantine facility.
Sri. C.N. Ravi Kiran on 25.04.2020, Saturday
The priceless find inclu- aged 3 and 5 and a seven-year- On the first day, nurses of We pray god to rest his soul in peace.
des, among other things, old girl — were confirmed in- the Covid-19 ward struggled
negatives of 100 hitherto un- fected on April 13 when their to calm the siblings. On speci-
Satyajit Ray, clicked by his long-time associate Nemai Ghosh
seen photographs clicked test reports came in. While al permission, their mother,
by Satyajit Ray, over 1,000 un-
seen negatives or transpa-
early movies, and letters and
telegrams from stalwarts
ke, Akira Kurosawa and Ri-
chard Attenborough.
their father also tested positi-
ve, their mother was found
in a PPE suit, now sits with
them, at a distance.
Sorrowful Family members , Management ,
rencies of working stills
from the sets of the master’s
of world cinema such as
Frank Capra, Arthur C Clar-  Perfect collection, P 5
uninfected. Following stan-
dard protocol, district autho- ‘Discharge soon’, P 4
Staff Members , Students , Relatives & Friends.
2 TIMES CITY | COVID-19 CRISIS
CORONA
TESTING:
IT’LL BE AN EMAIL
OR AMBULANCE
STOI walks you
through the process
of sample collection
How 29-year-old on ventilator beat virus
Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com
Beng aluru: He was the
youngest patient on a ventila-
tor in Karnataka. After three
days of a grim battle for life,
healthcare professional at a
private hospital Sandesh
(name changed) has recov-
ered and is now in home
quarantine.
The 29-year-old man said:
“On March 28, a patient in
my locality came to the hos-
pital where I work. He
claimed he didn’t have fever,
but his body temperature
was high. I moved him in a
wheelchair and also held his
hand while checking the
medical records. He was re-
ferred to a government hos-
pital for tests. Two days later,
I developed symptoms. The
test results showed I was
Covid-19 positive.”
Interestingly, the man who
had met Sandesh tested nega-
tive. “This is a unique case.
The senior citizen may have
12 more labs
to start tests
in one week
Chethan.Kumar
@timesgroup.com
Beng aluru: Kar nataka,
which has been steadily in-
creasing the number of Cov-
id-19 tests every day, plans
add at least 12 RT-PCR diag-
nostic labs, taking the total
number of such facilities to
30 by April 30.
The move comes in the
wake of apprehensions ex-
pressed by Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) over
rapid antibody-testing kits,
which were expected to boost
DETECTING RISKS
18
Covid-19 testing
centres in
Karnataka currently
30
Total facilities
state plans to have
by April 30
WHY WE NEED
MORE LABS
1 Every expert recommends
scaling up testing to
determine real extent of
outbreak and to formulate
containment strategies
2 Asymptomatic cases are
increasing. Nearly 69% of
cases in Karnataka (till Apr 23)
were asymptomatic
3 Existing facilities not
enough to process all
collected samples. There’s a
backlog of 30%
4 Govt wants to test 5,000
samples per day
WIDE-RANGING SEARCH: A
medic checks temperature
of a migrant worker
near Chikkamagaluru
Old games unite families from across globe
Sujit.John@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Indian families
and friends around the world
are rediscovering simple old
games and playing them on
WhatsApp, as they look for
ways to break the lockdown
monotony. The games are
bringing families together
like never before.
The two most popular
games are housie (or tambola)
and Bollywood quizzes. But
treasure hunt, and name,
place, animal, thing are also
played with equal fervour. By
the end of a game, several hun-
dreds, and sometimes several
thousands of messages, pic-
tures, videos, audio clips and
GIFs would have been ex-
changed in the WhatsApp
group created for the game.
LOCATION: Covid-19
diagnostic facility, Sir
MUST
WEAR: Mask
CV Raman General
Hospital, Indiranagar
Pics: Syed Asif
STEP 1
SPOT CHECK: Field medical team in Bengaluru’s Hongasandra
area, which has been sealed after detection of infections
the state’s testing capacity
amid an increasing number of
asymptomatic coronavirus
cases. The state government is
yet to use these kits, though it
has placed orders.
As on April 23, nearly 69%
of the 445 cases reported in
Karnataka were asympto-
matic, up from about 60% a
week before. Almost every
expert recommends scaling
up testing to ascertain the
extent of the viral spread and
to prepare corresponding
containment strategies.
“Right now, we have 18
testing centres in Karnataka;
another 12 are in the pipeline.
Two at Kidwai (institute) in
Bengaluru and one in Gadag
should begin testing in a cou-
ple of days. By April 30, we
should have 30 labs in Karna-
taka,” Dr CN Manjunath,
Karnataka’s nodal testing
officer, told STOI.
Between April 12 and 22,
the number of Covid-19 tests
conducted in Kar nataka
jumped by a staggering 374
per cent, from 691 to 3,279.
Here’s how the transition
happened: from 691 tests on
April 12, the figure rose to 957
on April 13, 1,812 on April 17,
and 2,733 on April 21 before
crossing the 3,000-mark
on April 22.
Despite the growth, chal-
lenges remain. The state is
still struggling to process all
samples that are collected;
there’s a backlog of at least
30%. “Our target is to test at
least 5,000 samples per day
and we should be able to do
that with the additional 12
labs by the end of this
month,” Dr Manjunath said.
FUN SESSION: (Left) Shilpa & Amit do the lungi dance in Perth for
a Bollywood game. (Right) Tanushree Bagaria’s family in B’luru
Bengaluru-based Tanushree
Bagaria has organised 8-10
games for her side of the fam-
ily, and each game has had 20-
30 participants. She says her
husband Manish’s family is
even more passionate, playing
games every day with 40 or
An attendant
will use a
thermal
gun to
check your
temperature
Pics: Chethan Shivakumar & PTI
MEDIA consumption
increases
during Covid crisis
Watching
more shows/
51% films on
streaming
services
ALL FIGURES MARCH 2020
45% 36%
Spending longer
on messaging
services (e.g.
WhatApp,
Facebook
Messenger, etc)
35%
16%
Reading more
44% magazines
Spending longer
14%
on social media
(e.g. Facebook,
Instagram, Reading more
Twitter etc) newspapers
SSLC exams
will be held,
clarifies min
Shrinivasa.M
@timesgroup.com
Mysuru: Primary and sec-
ondary education minister
S Suresh Kumar clarified
on Saturday that SSLC ex-
ams would be conducted
this year, putting an end to
speculation that there was
a proposal to cancel them.
“A decision on the future
course of action [dates] will
be taken after May 3, once
the lockdown is relaxed,” he
said at the Covid-19 review
meeting in Chamarajana-
gar on Saturday.
Rumours about the gov-
ernment’s plans for SSLC
exams had caused confusion
among students. In the orig-
inal schedule, the exams
were supposed to begin on
March 27. “Some people are
trying to create confusion on
the issue. Right now, we are
fighting a bigger examina-
tion, posed by coronavirus.
Once the lockdown is lifted
exams will be held,” he said.
more people. Relatives from
the US, Dubai, London, Surat,
Mumbai and Chennai partici-
pate. “I hardly knew Manish’s
side of the family, but now I
know them so well,” she says.
Ditto for Shilpa Tambi,
who lived in Bengaluru for 15
STEP 2
Paperwork
(two forms).
Share your
age, ID
(Aadhaar) and
home address.
The details will
be fed into the
state health
department’s
database
Healthcare professional
Sandesh’s case is a
mystery for health
dept, as the patient he
was in touch turned out
to be Covid negative
been in touch with a person
with travel history,” said a
senior health officer. The sen-
ior citizen was treated in a
private hospital but passed
away due to pneumonia. On
April 1, Sandesh was rushed
to the same hospital as he
needed oxygen support.
“As my condition didn’t
improve, I was put on a venti-
lator for three days. On Day 1
of being admitted, I couldn’t
walk more than four steps.
Though I was quite fit earlier,
the virus took a heavy toll,”
he added. It’s the first time he
was an in-patient and hospital
authorities picked up the tab.
As a precautionary measure,
the private hospital where
Sandesh worked was tempo-
WATCHING
67% MORE
NEWS
COVERAGE
WORLDWIDE
Watching
more TV
45% on
broadcast
channels
Spending 35%
more time on
computer/
video games
Reading more
books/
listening to
Listening to more more
steaming services audiobooks
(e.g. Apple Music,
Spotify
etc)
18%
Listening to
more radio
14%
12%
Creating/
LISTENING
TO MORE
uploading
videos (e.g.
on Tik Tok,
PODCASTS YouTube etc)
Home-alone seniors depend on helpline
Christin.MathewPhilip
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Vulnerable to
Covid-19 and unable to step
out to purchase essentials
due to the lockdown, senior
citizens are increasingly re-
lying on the Elders Helpline
(1090) to get their immediate
needs addressed.
The helpline in Bengalu-
ru received 258 calls between
April 1 and 20, while there
were only 147 calls in the
first days of the previous
month. A majority of the
calls in April were for guid-
ance and support (93), fol-
lowed by help for medical
and healthcare (68), supply
of essentials (59) and coun-
selling (38).
The Elders Helpline is a
joint initiative of city police
and Nightingales Medical
Trust. Prior to the lockdown,
senior citizens would visit
the helpline in person seek-
ing redressal for various
problems. Many senior citi-
zens live alone because their
children and relatives are
living outside the city. But
years and now stays in Perth.
She has organised for family,
friends and her children’s
friends. But she’s most excited
about what she has managed
to do for the elders in her fam-
ily across the world.
“Our family got together
like never before. Many were
not much in touch with one
another. Now with these
games, I don’t think they have
had this much fun since their
childhood. I got so many bless-
ings from the family, I was
overjoyed,” she says.
Housie involves making
payments of about Rs 100 each
for a ticket through an app.
The organiser takes pictures
of the tickets and sends them
on WhatsApp to each partici-
pant, who has to recreate the
same ticket on a piece of pa-
Disinfect your hands. You will be taken to a
STEP 3
room, where a medical team, clad in blue
personal protective equipment (PPE), will enquire about
any symptoms you may have experienced or are
experiencing. You will be then sent to a ward inside
the hospital,
where staff
will check
your forms
and give you a
labelled tube
containing a
swab extractor
rarily shut down by BBMP.
The senior citizen’s death
left Sandesh broken. “I have
no regrets of helping him.
But I’m sad he didn’t sur-
vive. His son apologised that
I had to suffer too,” said
Sandesh, who is still in touch
with the family.
While it was a pain to be
in the hospital for 15 days,
Sandesh kept in touch with
his concerned siblings and
parents via video calls. “Af-
ter I got better and was off
the ventilator, I started
watching movies on my cell-
phone,” he said. His favour-
ite film, ‘Hum Aap Ke Hai
Kaun’ starring Madhuri
Dixit and Salman Khan, gave
him much solace.
He was discharged on
April 15. Sandesh’s case is a
mystery for the health depart-
ment, as the patient he was in
touch turned out to be Covid
negative. Officials are now
looking for clues to explain
how he contracted the disease.
Secret Santa doc spreads
cheer among her patients
Nithya.Mandyam
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: A six-year-old
inmate of the Covid-19 ward
at the Trauma Care Centre
on Victoria Hospital cam-
pus was being restless and
on the verge of breaking
social-distancing norms.
The boy calmed down only
after he was provided with
toys, thanks to Dr Asima
Banu, 46, the Covid-19
ward’s nodal officer.
#LOCKDOWN
HEROES
Dr Banu is, in fact, the
Secret Santa for most of the
50 inmates of the ward. Choc-
olate cakes, chips, razors,
toothbrushes, lungis and
chappals — the doctor en-
sures every wish is fulfilled.
Incidentally, Dr Banu, a
medical microbiologist with
20 years of service, hasn’t
personally met the 80-odd
CALL FOR ASSISTANCE: Senior citizens rely on helplines to get
rations. 1090 received 258 calls between April 1 and 20
Covid-19 has hit them hard.
With no helpers coming to
their houses, they have been
struggling to do domestic
chores like cooking food,
washing clothes and utensils
on their own.
In the absence of ade-
per. The money collected is
broken up into multiple priz-
es. When the game starts,
numbers are announced on
WhatsApp, with sufficient
pause between numbers for
people to respond with a ‘wait’
in case they think they have
won a prize, and for them to
send a picture of the ticket.
Housie’s monetary win-
nings are a source of excite-
ment. Tanushree says it has
brought together everyone,
from children to grandfathers.
But Bollywood quizzes gener-
ate the most passion and ac-
tion. Organisers put together
pictures and audio and video
clips of movies and actors.
When these are shared on the
WhatsApp group, participants
must guess the movie, or the
song. Full report on toi.in
You walk into another room,
where two staffers in PPE take
swab samples from your throat.
It barely takes a minute.
K’TAKA
COVID
TRACKER
CLUSTERS GROW; NANJANGUD FOOTPRINT IN MANDYA
BENGALURU URBAN 13 133
Five of the patients, including a
17-year-old boy and a 19-yr-old
woman, are from the city’s
Hongasandra cluster linked to a
54-year-old SARI patient.
Three others, including two men
aged 27 and a 66-yr-old woman,
are contacts of a SARI patient
with no travel history
DAKSHINA KANNADA 1 17
33-year-old is contact of a
67-year-old woman from
Bantwal who developed SARI
MANDYA 1 16
Man aged 37 is contact of
a Nanjangud pharma firm
employee who has recovered
HEALER AND HELPER: Dr Asima
Banu is the Covid-19 ward’s
nodal officer at Trauma Care
Centre, Victoria Hospital
patients who have been
housed in the ward at various
points of time. But she has
formed a WhatsApp group
for the patients to let her
know what they want.
“Sometimes it’s not just
medicine, but also mental
peace that helps in recovery,”
she says. On March 27, the
centre received its first Cov-
id-19 case. “Within two days,
we ensured everything at the
centre, including my office,
quate transport facilities due
to the lockdown, they are
also finding it difficult to ac-
cess banking, health, grocer-
ies and other basic facilities.
Swati Bhandary, associate
director, Nightingales Medi-
cal Trust, said senior citizens
How state averted ‘kitchen crisis’
Rakesh.Prakash
@timegroup.com
Bengaluru: The lockdown
triggered several stress
points, the chief being supply
shortages. But officials en-
sured one particularly kitch-
en staple was always available
in adequate quantities.
“When the lockdown was
announced, Karnataka had
edible oil stocks for only
about four days. We were star-
ing at a crisis as significant
quantity of edible oil is im-
ported, but the source coun-
tries had shut operations. We
took some quick decisions,
and you can see that in the
past 30 years, households
have not complained about
the availability of oil for cook-
ing,” said IAS of ficer
Rajender Kumar Kataria,
SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
STEP 4
Reports will take 48 hours. “If negative we
will send an email, else we will send an
ambulance,” a staffer explains.
DEATHS TODAY
0
CASES TODAY
26
TOTAL TOTAL
18
TOTAL 500
TODAY
BELAGAVI 9 54 TOTAL
All those who tested positive,
including an 80-yr-old woman
and an 8-yr-old boy, are from the
Hirebagewadi cluster and
secondary contacts of a TJ
delegate who returned from
Delhi. One of the patients is an
anganwadi worker; another is a
retired police personnel
CHIKKABALLAPURA 1 18
18-year-old had recently
visited Hindupura and
Anantapura in Andhra Pradesh
MYSURU 1 89
50-year-old is a contact
of an employee of the
Nanjangud pharma firm
was shifted to another build-
ing and the entire place was
turned into a special Covid-19
care unit,” says Dr Banu.
Today the centre is at the
forefront of Bengaluru’s
battle against Covid-19. The
two-storey building with 30
beds on each floor is the
only place in the city where
coronavirus patients are
now being lodged. “Most
patients who are brought
into our ward are in a state
of shock. They walk into the
hospital without extra
clothes, food, and personal
grooming kits,” she adds.
Considering they are yet
to come to terms with the
situation, many patients
don’t cooperate. That is when
Dr Banu steps in. She coun-
sels them on phone and as-
sures them that nothing will
happen to them. “We have
patients going on hunger
strike, refusing to wear oxy-
gen masks and ignoring dis-
tancing. I motivate them,”
she says. Full report toi.in
TIMES VIEW
U nfortunately, Indian
society is still in
transition. The joint family
has gone, replaced by the
nuclear family, but the
aspects of elder care handled
by the joint family system
have not yet been replaced by
other institutions. In parts of
the West there are homes and
communities for the elderly,
and these are supplemented
by a robust state-overseen
support system, including
nursing and mental health
professionals. Nothing of the
kind exists here, which means
that when there are
extraordinary situations like
these, seniors often have
nowhere to turn to, The
Elder’s Helpline is doing a
vital job, but it needs more
support from the state and
the citizenry.
from across the city are call-
ing the helpline. “Some want
guidance in getting their
monthly pension as the post-
the state nodal officer for sup-
ply chain management and
essential commodities.
In a normal situation,
around up to 2,200 metric
tonnes of edible oil (both re-
fined palm oil and refined
sunflower oil) is sold per day
across Karnataka. Of this, up
to 1,000
tonnes is sold
in Bengalu-
r u . S e ve n
companies in
the state im-
port edible
oil through
Mangaluru and Karwar
ports, while refined palm oil
comes from Malaysia and re-
fined sunflower oil from
Ukraine. “Following lock-
down, all ports were closed
and the local oil manufactur-
ers downed shutters. We had
APRIL 26, 2020
STEP 5
You are done.
Leave a comment
in the hospital
ledger, disinfect
your hands again,
and exit
AND THE RESULTS?
Over 1k tech
proposals
land in just
four weeks
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bengaluru: More than 1,000
technological innovation pro-
posals have reached the
CCAMP Covid-19 Innovations
Deployment Accelerator (C-
CIDA) here. It has picked six
new innovations last week for
scaling up. The proposals have
come from across India.
C-CIDA selected six compa-
nies — Eyestem (screening
platform for anti-Covid-19
drugs); Kerasiev (controlling
viral contaminants in waste
water; Innaumation (thera-
peutics approaches); Pluss
Technologies (cold chain sup-
port for viral swabs); RR Ani-
mal Healthcare (surface sani-
tisation) and DNAXperts
(idigenously developed rapid
diagnostics kit).
A startup accelerator
has selected six new
innovations on Covid-19
response for scaling up
The accelerator earlier se-
lected 25 innovations in its
first three weeks, and the total
is now 31.While a few of these
companies are ready to deploy
immediately, some will be in
the game longer with tech-
nologies in areas that hold
potential in India and globally.
While Eyetem and Innau-
mation are based in Bengalu-
ru, the others are from Hy-
derabad, Noida, Gurugram
and Kolkata.
Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO
and director, C-CAMP, said:
“The Week 4 line-up reflects
the diversity of solutions.
These are not mainstream but
bold, holistic approaches.”
C-CAMP, along with the
United Nations Health Inno-
vation Exchange and Social
Alpha, started C-CIDA in
March this year.
man didn’t deliver it to them.
Some want to know when the
lockdown would be lifted or
they could travel to meet their
dear ones.”
Volunteers are also help-
ing them to get essentials
and medicines from nearby
shops. “Whenever we receive
a call, we immediately trans-
fer it to the nearest Hoysala
team which will visit their
houses,” said a volunteer.
“I’ve stopped my morning
and evening walks. The city
looks beautiful, is less-pol-
luted and has less vehicles
on roads. But I’m not step-
ping out since we are more
vulnerable to Covid-19. We
are unable to go to hospitals
for check-ups due to lack of
transport facility,” said KS
Viswanath, 75, a Malleswar-
am resident.
Bhandary said they are
also receiving calls from peo-
ple on shortages of some
medicines. “We deliver those
medicines with the help of
volunteers. We ar range
transport for dialysis pa-
tients who want to go to
checkups,” she said.
a stock of 13,300 metric
tonnes, which would have
lasted four days. The question
was how would kitchens run
when people are at home and
if they run out of cooking
oil?” Kataria said. “Moreover,
it was a challenge as Malaysia
and Indonesia were also pre-
paring for a lockdown.”
A meeting of refinery rep-
resentatives was held and the
government was told the cri-
sis could be averted if seven
or eight ships, which were in
the high seas, were allowed to
berth at Mangaluru port. “We
had to act before the vessels
returned or got diverted to
another country. We spoke to
authorities and got the port
opened,” Kataria said. Ships
carrying 77,600 metric tonnes
of edible oil were allowed
to dock. Full report on toi.in
SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020 TIMES CITY 3

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Thieves party
Sub-registrar offices suffer Migrants take
rations not meant
for them; booked
‘DON’T BRING VIRUS HERE’ K Sunil Prasad in locked bar,
steal 30 bottles
`1k cr loss during lockdown Photo for representation only
Bengaluru: Varthur police
have registered a case against
migrant labourers for taking
Bengaluru: Thieves who bro-
ke into a locked bar in KG Na-
gar in south Bengaluru, not
only took away several liquor

Begin Ops With “We’ve lost a potential Rs

Skeletal Staff;
No Registration
On Day One
ManuAiyappa.Kanathanda
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Sub-registrar
offices outside Covid-19 con-
tainment zones across the
state started functioning
with skeletal staff from
Friday, but no property regi-
strations were done. The go-
vernment reopened 230 of
the total 252 sub-registrar of-
fices after a break of 30 days.
THIS WON’T DO: Crowding in sub-registrar offices is a thing of the
past as people now have to maintain social-distancing protocol
NEW NORMS IN OFFICES
W earing of masks is now
compulsary at sub-
registrar offices. Visitors will
be scanned with thermal
scanners. Sub-registrars have
per hour or 20-25 per day
ensuring the biometric system,
where the thumb impression is
taken, is cleaned. The office
will be sanitised on the day it
opens and every week after
that. Sanitisers and auto-
sanitising machines will be
1,000 crore in revenue from
Mach 24 to April 25, through
stamp duty and registration
fee. On an average, the de-
partment collects between
Rs 800 crore and Rs 1,000 cro-
re a month,” Ashoka said.
“Matching the 2019-20 re-
venue target itself seems im-
possible given the crisis,” an
official said. March and
April are crucial months for
the department as a large
number of documents are re-
gistered with financial insti-
tutions pushing for housing
loans to meet their targets.
KP Mohan Raj, inspector
general of registrations and
commissioner of stamps, said
sub-registrar offices across
away food that was supposed to
be delivered to some other la-
bottles but also downed a few
pegs before fleeing. Interes-
bourers’ camp. tingly, they did not touch the
Though the incident happe-
ned on April 7, the complaint
cash box and other valuables.
The incident took place in
was registered on Thursday.
Police said Suresh, a senior
a bar in Lakshmipura, KG Na-
gar near Chamarajpet during
labour department officer in
Mahadevapura range, and his
the early hours of Friday. Bar
owner and Girinagar resident
colleague Shivanand were ta- Prasanna informed police af-
king 54 packets of rations to be ter a neighbour alerted him
delivered to migrants living in about noise from the bar.
Gunjur. On their way, over 50 Police said they found
IN PROTEST MODE: High drama unfolded in front of Banaswadi police
persons blocked their vehicle three glasses and an empty
station after BBMP shifted 32 foreign nationals, including 19 who had
by parking a tractor in the whiskey bottle on a table, indi-
attended the Tablighi Jamaat event, to a service apartment in the area on
middle of the road. They clai- cating the miscreants had a
Friday. Residents staged a protest and the group was moved back to Haj
med they were hungry and as- few drinks before taking away
Bhavan later. Police said the 32 persons were shifted to Banaswadi to
ked them to distribute the ra-
tions in the area. Though the
officials declined, they forced
make room for those held in connection with Padarayanapura violence.
BJP corporator Padmanabha Reddy said Banaswadi has not reported any
about 30 whiskey and rum
bottles, adding that they ente-
red the bar from a ventilator
positive case and shifting the group there could pose a risk to residents
them to distribute rations on the roof. TNN
among the poor in the locality.

Students seek help

Revenue minister R As-
hoka said no property regi-
strations were recorded on
the first day except for a few
mortgage and lease deeds.
The situation may continue
for the next couple of weeks
considering that the real es-
tate market has stagnated
post the outbreak of Co-
vid-19, he added.
DONATE ONLINE, DON’T MEET ME: BSY
been directed to register a
maximum of three documents
A sub-registrar said peo-
ple are reluctant to visit offi-
ces and even those with sche-
duled registrations are not
turning up. He expressed
concern over reopening of
offices without adequate
staff as only 40% of them ha-
installed at the entrance.
ve been asked to work.
Property registration is
one of the key generators of
revenue for the government
and had contributed Rs 11,100
crore during 2018-19. The reve-
nue target for the 2020-21 fi-
nancial year is Rs 14,500 crore.
VIRAL TAKES
the state have been asked to
open with the permission of
the deputy commissioner con-
cerned. “Instructions have be-
en issued on precautionary
measures to be taken. Howe-
ver, 22 sub-registrar offices in
containment zones— most of
them in Bengaluru, Mysuru
and Chikkaballapura— will
remain shut,” he added.
NBF HELPS RAGPICKERS, WORKERS
BACK IN BIZ: A
Suresh, who lodged a comp-
laint after consulting his se-
niors, said people who took the
food did not provide their Aad-
haar and phone numbers. They
also did not maintain social dis-
tancing. When contacted, the
Varthur police inspector refu-
sed to share information. Su-
resh said he’s not aware of the
case being registered. TNN
HAPPYINES
to return from Kota o
i =
SruthySusan.Ullas The hostels have started Knowledge is Safety!
@timesgroup.com emptying out as other go-
Read the paper to enhance
vernments have arranged
your awareness and safety
Bengaluru: Around 272 stu- transport,” Dhanush Hollak,
during these times.
dents from Karnataka who a student at Allen Coaching
are stuck in Kota, Rajasthan, Centre, told STOI from Kota. Healthcare vouchers
have urged the state govern- Veerabhadra Patil, a stu- to be won daily.
ment to help them dent from Kalaburagi who is Convert points to

C hief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday pleaded

with donors to transfer donations online, rather
than meeting him personally with cheques to uphold
customer at
a reopened
N amma Bengaluru Foundation launched its food
delivery drive on March 28 to supply free
grocery kits and food to needy people through the
return home.
In a Twitter video, seve-
taking JEE coaching, said
there are only four students
5X TIMESPOINTS
for assured rewards.
flour mill on ral students wearing face left in his hostel. “There we- Weekly Points Bonanza!
physical distancing amid lockdown. “It is my humble TCM Royan
lockdown period in partnership with various NGOs masks, are seen requesting re 64 students earlier. The lo- Weekly draws for 4000
request to all Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) Road near and donors. The drive has so far reached out to over the government to arrange neliness is getting to us. Be- TIMESPOINTS,every Sunday.
donors to please send over contributions online rather Chamarajpet 1,500 ragpickers and nearly 20,000 unorganised some means to help them get fore the lockdown, food used T&CS apply ParisiP<uion wind w: 7 to IIAM
than to me in person by cheque,” tweeted Yediyurappa. on Saturday sector workers. back. The students point out to be served in a mess. Now, 1 I
that other state govern- we get tiffins. We are concer-
REVA UNI DEVELOPS VENTILATORS DUO RIDES 700KM TO DELIVER CANCER MEDS VIRTUAL TALK ON COVID & JOURNALISM ments like Madhya Pradesh, ned where the tiffin comes
Uttar Pradesh and Assam from,” he said.
A faculty team of REVA University has developed a
ventilator named Jeeva Setu for the needy. They
have produced two ventilators for now and are in
T wo riders of Bengaluru-based Riders Republic Motorcycle
Club, Mohan Mallappa and Babanna, delivered critical T he National School of Journalism and Public
Discourse will organise a virtual talk with Nick
Couldry, professor of media, communications and
have already done the need-
ful for their students.
M Patil from Kalaburagi
sent his car to Kota to fetch
cancer drugs to a retired military officer in Kerala on April 24. “I have been in Kota since his son. “His mother has he-
the process of identifying manufacturing companies to They rode close to 700km to hand over the medicine to social theory at the London School of Economics, June 2019 for NEET coa- alth issues. So, I took special
produce more. The university intends to Kerala authorities at Muthunga checkpost. RRMC, a and a faculty associate at Harvard’s Centre for ching. My mother too came permission from the deputy M M> M>

distribute the ventilators free of cost. The production registered motorcycle club, is working with Bengaluru police Internet & Society, at 6.30pm on April 30. Couldry down recently and we were commissioner here and sent
cost of each ventilator is around Rs 30-35,000. to deliver critical life-saving drugs, other pharmaceutical will speak on ‘Remembering journalism’s public supposed to return to Karna- the car. It took them 22 hours
Jeeva Setu was digitally launched on Saturday medicines and essentials to interiors and border areas of rationale: Media and public policy responses to taka on March 30. I had appli- to reach Kota. They will Stay Safe Tip!
on the university campus. Karnataka and beyond. Covid’. To join the talk, register at nsoj.in/vt. ed for CET. That’s when the start back on Saturday mor-
lockdown came into force. ning,” he said.

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4 TIMES CITY SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020

Hongasandra dodged a bullet due To sell or not to sell (liquor)?

to distribution of ration kits: BBMP Chethan Shivakumar
The closure of liquor outlets during the lockdown has cost Karnataka and other states
much-needed revenue, but reopening liquor shops could create a new set of problems
Nithya.Mandyam
@timesgroup.com Vigil at labour camps Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com Pics: TOI
where the greatest spend
was found, although sales of
Bengaluru: The Covid-19 T he outbreak in Hongasandra

outbreak in Hongasandra
would have spun out of cont-
rol and spread across the tech
corridor in southeast Benga-
luru had it not been for free
grocery kits being provided
to migrant labourers, say
BBMP officials.
“If grocery kits were not
being distributed, these mig-
rants would have gone out see-
king food or money and would
have unknowingly spread the
virus. But since they were get-
ting kits, none of the 200 labo-
urers stepped out of their tiny
rented houses and thankfully,
the infection is restricted to
their locality,” a n official said.
Till Saturday morning, 27
people tested positive in Vidy-
ajyothi Layout, Hongasandra,
which is close to HSR Layout,
Electronics City and Hulima-
vu. Barring one visitor to the
locality and a woman resi-
dent, the rest of the infected
are all migrant labourers. The
first patient from the locality
was a 54-year-old man from Bi-
DANGER ZONE: Residents collect essentials from the blocked main
road at Hongasandra where many Covid-19 cases have been reported
har, who is said to have infec-
ted many others living with
him on the same street, which
housed more than 200 people.
Each house measures 10x20 ft
and was occupied by at least fi-
ve to six men. The authorities
believe Hongasandra could
have been spared the viral wo-
es if the Bihar man had not
sneaked out of his dwelling
during the lockdown to go to
Mangammanapalya, where
he worked in a scrapyard. He
is suspected to contracted the
virus at his workplace, which
he visited on April 7 and 8, as
he was running short of es-
sentials and money.
BBMP officials admitted
they began distributing food
to Hongasandra labourers on
alternative days from April 7
in collaboration with the labo-
ur department. “After our pro-
visions reached them, the
migrants stopped stepping
out,” said a senior official.
appears similar to the high
incidence in marginalised
migrants’ quarters in
Singapore. The city-state has
been drawing flak for creating a
situation wherein migrants
living in crammed dormitories
got infected in droves.
BBMP officials said they
have been monitoring areas
inhabited with migrants in
core areas. Bengaluru Urban
administration is in charge of
securing the migrants in
outlying areas, they added.
The official said with ra-
tions in hand, the men began
taking turns to cook food.
“While one team cooked, they
ate together in front of their
dwellings with no regard for
social-distancing norms,” he
added. The workers were
supplied rations once in three
days. “There were times when
they declined the kits. But if
they had not got rations, they
would have ventured out and
put people at risk,” he said.
O
n Monday, chief min-
isters around the
country are expected
to meet with Prime
Minister Modi via videocon-
ference. And alcohol is high
on the agenda. Liquor sales
are an important source of
revenue for states, and the
closure of liquor outlets as a
result of the lockdown has
hit them hard.
Delhi, Punjab, Kerala and
Haryana have been among
the most vocal, saying they
have detected significant liq-
uor smuggling. But it’s not
just states ruled by opposi-
tion parties that are feeling
the pinch. Two weeks ago, H.
Nagesh, Karnataka’s excise
minister told media persons
that the state has suffered Rs
800 crores of losses in a
month due to the closing of
liquor outlets but added that
the losses can be levelled
once the situation turns nor-
mal. “Health of our people is
more important at the mo-
ment,” he said. In Punjab, the
state police have found in-
stances of manufacture and
HOBSON’S CHOICE: Karnataka’s excise minister H Nagesh
recently said that the state has suffered losses of Rs 800 crore
in the past month due to the closing of liquor outlets
broke open a bar in the sub-
urbs and took away alcohol
bottles which he hid in a well.
With liquor selling at
markups of 500% on the
black market, thieves are
finding breaking into bars
and stealing booze a lucrative
proposition. And people are
willing to pay
exorbitant SUNDAY BEST
after shelter-in-place orders
began taking effect because
of the coronavirus pandem-
ic. The previous week ecom-
merce booze sales g rew
441%. “Still, the numbers are
the fastest-growing sector
Nielsen measures in the al-
cohol space. Customers are
staying at
home and grav-
rum rose by 92.4%.
But, in the long run, this
enforced abstinence may ac-
tually turn out to be a public
health godsend. In a state-
ment last week, the World
Health Organization’s Re-
gional Office for Europe said
that alcohol consumption
“compromises the body’s im-
mune system and increases
the risk of adverse health
outcomes. Therefore, people
should minimize their alco-
hol consumption at any time,
and particularly during the
COVID-19 pandemic.”
Last month, WHO called
drinking an “unhelpful cop-
ing strategy” for those cooped
up at home during the coro-
navirus crisis, warning it
“can make things worse.”
It’s a difficult choice for
the country’s chief ministers.
The income from alcohol sales
makes up a significant portion
of a state’s revenues. Problems
with GST have made the situ-
ation worse.
The money is desperately
needed to provide a robust
response to the pandemic.

Truckers, traders demand cheaper sale of illicit liquor. Closer to

home, the non-availability of
alcohol has given rise to bur-
glaries targeting the Mysore
amounts of
money for their alcohol fix.
In the West, alcohol is be-
ing treated as an essential
itating toward
delivery,” said a CNN report.
In the UK, retail sales data
reported an additional £104
But allowing sales of alcohol
would not only create other
public health issues, as well
as a spike in domestic vio-

fuel to make up for lockdown loss State Inter national Ltd

(MSIL) outlets in different
parts of the state. Last Thurs-
item. In Covid-stricken New
York, online alcoholic bever-
age sales increased 387% for
million was spent in the last
week of March, which is
when lockdown measures
lence, but also exacerbate
the pandemic.

But Govts In No Bus operators say biz day robbers at knife-point

decamped with 115 hard liq-
uor bottles and seven cases
the week ending April 11,
which is roughly a month
were introduced, compared
to the week before. Lager is
(For Quiz, go to Times of India
Bengaluru page on Facebook)

Mood To Accede
BV.Shivashankar
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: With global
crude oil prices on a down-
ward spiral, many stakehold-
ers like truckers, traders and
consumers were hoping the
Central and state govern-
ments will reduce fuel prices
to help them deal with fiscal
pressures coupled with the
collateral damage caused by
Covid-19. But neither seems
to be in a mood to slash rates.
All India Motor Trans-
port Congress (AIMTC) had
recently petitioned Prime
Minister Narendra Modi de-
manding fuel prices be re-
duced and highway toll col-
lection done away with as
truckers are facing acute
problems amid the lock-
down. “Despite decent pro-
duction, food prices continue
to remain high due to high
fuel rates. Relaxation of the
shutdown will not make any
sense unless fuel prices are
decreased,” said GR Shan-
mugappa, president, AIMTC.
COST CONUNDRUM
matter,” said a senior official
from the Karnataka finance
department.
The cash-starved Karna-
taka government in its budg-
et proposal had hiked sales
tax on petrol and diesel by
3%; it came into effect from
April 1. However, it doesn’t
seem to have helped the gov-
ernment as fuel consumption
has come down by 70% due to
the lockdown. Some experts
say reduction of fuel prices
may help the state revive its
ailing economy.
“Going by the rate of dip
in crude oil prices, petrol and
diesel should have been
cheaper at least by eight ru-
unviable, seek tax relief
Christin.MathewPhilip
@timesgroup.com
Bengaluru: Many private
bus operators in the state are
staring at a bleak future even
if the lockdown is lifted.
With the Centre mulling
limiting the number of pas-
sengers to maintain social
distancing, operators say run-
ning buses with only one pas-
senger per seat on inter-city
and intra-city routes will not
be financially viable and
many will have to shut down.
The livelihood of thousands
of staffers, including drivers
and cleaners, will also be hit.
“We’re facing a huge finan-
cial crisis and many operators
may not survive in the next
few months. It is no longer fi-
nancially viable to operate
buses,” said KT Rajshekhar,
chairman of Bus Operators
Confederation of India.
In Kerala, a concession of
1/3 of quarterly tax has been
offered to private buses. How-
ever, Karnataka government
NOT A SMOOTH RIDE
Many operators are
struggling to pay
salaries since buses have not
been not running for a month.
Thousands of employees and
their families are relying on
private bus sector for livelihood
KT Rajshekhar | CHAIRMAN, BUS
OPERATORS CONFEDERATION OF INDIA
tax rate by half till we recover
from Covid-19,” he said.
He said they have to spend
money on MV taxes, fuel ex-
penses, insurance, toll charg-
es, maintenance costs as well
as staff salaries.
General secretary of the
Karnataka Private Bus Own-
ers Operators Sadananda
Chatra said: “There’s no clar-
ity on lifting of the lockdown
and resumption of services.
of beer in Bedathur village,
Midigeshi hobli, Madhugiri
taluk. On April 10, thieves
broke in into a Bengaluru bar
and made of with 35 bottles
of liquor, worth approximate-
ly Rs 35,000. An alcohol outlet
on the Bengaluru-Doddabal-
lapur road was broken into
and liquor worth Rs 4.18 lakh
was stolen. In Chikkabal-
lapur, thieves ransacked a
bar and made off with an
unknown quantity of alco-
hol. Last week, five police-
men attached to the Thiru-
mallashetty police station in
the outskirts of Bengaluru,
were suspended after a bur-
glary suspect they were ques-
tioning was found floating
dead in a well in the area. The
victim, Munipillappa alias
Kulla, was suspected to have
Another person offers to donate plasma
Continued from page 1
vate hospital and discharged
on April 14. He is currently on
UP IN SMOKE
Iatt’smarket
not just alcohol that has seen a black
thrive. Cigarettes have been selling
a premium, and the disruption of supply
chains has led to a significant population of
tobacco smokers switching over to bidis to
get their nicotine fix. Like alcohol, social
media has been one way that blackmarketers
have been advertising their wares. But the
Bengaluru police have been aware of this. The
city police nabbed two men for supplying
cigarettes and tobacco products after they
received orders through social media
platforms. Cigarettes worth Rs 3 lakh and car
they used were seized. Meanwhile, due to
their classification as non-essential, sites like
Ciggywala have been unable to serve the
tobacco addict.
all recovered, eligible patients
Pre-donation checks
to donate plasma to help

Various trade bodies too
have petitioned the Centre
and the state government
seeking reduction in fuel
prices but the latter has no
such plans. “This has to be
decided by the Union govern-
ment and oil marketing com-
panies (OMCs). The state
government has no say in the
pees per litre. While OMCs
are passing on this benefit to
consumers, policies of the
governments are not helping
either as they chose to hike
taxes to fill their revenue
gaps,” said KM Basave Gow-
da, president, Akhila Karna-
taka Federation of Petrole-
um Dealers.
is yet to come up with any
such relief measures. “Taxa-
tion rate is also high in Kar-
nataka. For instance, a 53-seat-
er bus has to pay Rs 3,895 per
seat per quarter. A bus operat-
ing on Bengaluru-Hyderabad
sector has to pay Rs 6.8 lakh
per quarter as MV tax. The
government should reduce the
But it’s not economical to op-
erate buses with half the ca-
pacity. It won’t be sufficient to
even pay salaries to our staff.”
A transport department
official said they have not de-
cided on offering tax conces-
sion. “It’s a policy decision
which has to be decided by the
government,” the official said.
O
n March 28, I developed
a fever which did not
subside even though I
took paracetamol. My mother,
a homeopath, and father, a re-
tired Army personnel, sug-
gested I get tested at RGICD. I
tested positive after two
days,” he said.
He was admitted to a pri-
home quarantine for 14 days.
High fever was the only symp-
tom. “It’s a baby step towards
a big dream,” said Dr Vishal.
At the project launch on
Saturday, Praveen spoke
to health minister B Sriramu-
lu and medical education min-
ister K Sudhakar via video
calls. Both ministers urged
other patients. z Routine blood test
On Saturday evening, an- z Haemoglobin estimation
other Covid-recovered per-
z Screening for HIV, Hepatitis B
son, Jimmy Xavier from Ben-
virus, Hepatitis C virus, syphilis,
galuru, offered to donate
locally transmitted infections
plasma. As Xavier was re-
cently discharged, he’ll be el- z Immunity measurement by
checking total SARS-CoV2
igible to donate only after he
antibodies and SARS-CoV2
completes 14 days of home
neutralising antibodies
quarantine.

Telecom firm staff Mandya MLC & son held Cong: Ensure To vhur ano ouocement http://hibotextimesofmdiacom

complete
Co11: 18001021166 (21 r 7 )

can travel with IDs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru: The state government on Satur-

for brawl at testing centre lockdown First Death Anniversary

day issued a circular stating that staff wor- KR Rajendra Kumar TNN Continued from page 1
king with telecom firms — private and go-
he move comes a day after "To Allah we belong and
vernment — can venture out for official pur-
poses with ID cards and police should not
Mandya: A JD(S) legislator
opposed the setting up of a T the state government al- unto Allah we shall return .

stop them. Covid-19 testing centre near lowed labourers to move

The circular, issued by additional direc- his residence, saying it posed
tor general of police (ADGP) intelligence Ka- an infection risk, and man-
mal Pant, expressed concern over incidents handled some journalists
of such staff being stopped by police and for- who had turned up to give
ce being used on some occasions. samples. MLC KT Srikante-
“In the letter dated March 23, it was clear- gowda, his son and three ai-
ly mentioned that ‘Operation of Utilities Pro- des have been booked under
viding Internet Services’ falls under the es- IPC sections and under the
sential services category and hence, staff Disaster Management Act.
should be allowed to travel. Staff working Following an advisory
with private and government telecom firms from the government, dis-
can move around and should display ID cards trict health officers set up a
and other official documents when deman- testing centre at Dr Ambed-
ded by police. Despite clear instructions, the-
kar Bhavan in Subhash Na-
re were incidents wherein employees from gar on Saturday morning to
these firms were taken to police stations and collect throat swab samples.
their passes seized,” read the circular.
While testing was under way,
the MLC, along with his son
Krishikgowda and his sup-
Former state convener porters, barged into the buil-
ding and demanded the t cent-
of Bajrang Dal dies re be shut down.
A livid Srikantegowda
pulled up Mandya DC Venka-
Bengaluru: Former state convener of Baj- tesh, SP Parashuram and
rang Dal and social activist Mahendra Kumar, other officers, saying the tes-
47, died after a heart attack on Saturday. ting centre near his house po-
Following complaints of chest pain, Ku-
mar was shifted to a private hospital, where
AT LOGGERHEADS: MLC KT Srikantegowda and his son raised
objection to setting up of a Covid-19 testing centre near his house
sed an infection risk to the ne-
ighbourhood. He threatened
to hold the authorities re-
sponsible “if there is a virus
outbreak” in the locality.
Though officials tried to
explain, the MLC and his son
refused to relent and got into
a scuffle with journalists and
manhandled them. Police de-
tained the duo on the spot.
Mandya West police filed
an FIR against the MLC, his
son and others. They have
been booked under IPC sec-
tions for unlawful assem-
bly, breach of peace, wrong-
ful restraint and for com-
mitting an act likely to spre-
ad an infectious disease.
The Mandya SP said ac-
tion would be initiated under
provisions of Disaster Mana-
gement Act 2005 as well.
within the state and permit-
ted some industries to open in
safe districts. Congress
warned against opening up
too much too soon when cases
were being added daily. “At a
time when Covid-19 cases are
on the rise, easing lockdown
is like inviting danger. The
government must withdraw
its decision and ensure com-
plete lockdown till May 3,”
former minister HK Patil
wrote to the CM.
The state opposition ad-
vised caution and said Karna-
taka could not make econom-
ic progress on its own in a pan-
demic. “How will the econo-
my of the state or country
improve when many coun-
tries around the world are still
in lockdown?” Patil said.
“Covid cases are increasing
since the government an-
nounced relaxation on April
22. The government is patting
its back for fewer cases but that
is because tests are conducted
only on 30,000 people out of 3
ilk
With deep grief and sorrow
we inform you that
Mrs. JAMILA KHALEEL
W/o late Mr. M. R . Khaleel
Passed away peacefully on
23.4.2020, after a brief illness.
We pray that her departed
soul rests in peace and
she attains The Highest
Garden Of Paradise..!
Sorrowing family
Fazal Khaleel , Nat Khaleel ,
Iram Khaleel and Anam Khakel
PAY HOMAGE...
PAY RESPECT...
TO YOUR
BELOVED ONES
MR. C. SELVARAJ
(Rtd Principal Scientist ICAR, Central Fisheries)
02 May 1939 - 26 Apr 2019
I have fought a good fight , I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith -2 Timothy 4: 7
Not a day goes by that we don't think of you.
You were the guiding light in our lives and
especiall y today we are reminded how blessed
we were to have you for as long as we did
Forever Loved & Forever Missed by
Beloved wife Leela Selvaraj
Daug hters - Anita and Sasita
Sons in law- Aaron and Raj
Grandchildren- Anish , Esther and David
SAD DEMISE

Kids may be discharged soon

he breathed his last. He is survived by his wife
lakh people quarantined AT rr r '
and two children. v

After quitting Bajrang Dal in 2008, Kumar

joined Janata Dal (Secular) in 2011. Kumar be-
across the state,” the senior
Congress leader added. Rs.755/- Shri K.W. MURTHY
Passed Away on 23-04- 2020 Shabu Abraham (42 years)
longed to Koppa in Chikkamagaluru and was Continued from page 1 staff said, while they go about feeding them Karnataka has announced pscm* You left us with loving memories S/ o. Late Abraham M.A &
Ponnamma Abraham, passed away
involved in social activities. TNN and administering checks and medicine. some relaxations, mainly to re- which we cherish forever. on 25.04.2020, Funeral Service at
Minimum ad size:

N
urses had a tough time administer- All three children are asymptomatic and do- vive economic activity and Youare always in our hearts Marthoma Syrian Church , Primrose
ing daily checks and feeding the ing well and are likely to be sent home in a alongside, alleviate labour 4cms width love you very much and Road, Bangalore on 26.04.2020
u fawm t W1-a1 children. The two boys were particu- week, doctors said. shortage. Following the gov- miss you everyday.
at 2.30 pm & thereafter burial
ZR. 3; !19-20 21 -40 , -24.04.2020 The Times of India at Hosur Road, Indian Chnsban
ernment’s decision to deploy
fWf VWM M diT
larly unmanageable, said hospital staff, as
they cried continuously, demanding to
“The children and their mother are do-
KSRTC buses to ferry labour-
All Karnataka Editions Inserted by : Family Members Cemetery, Gate # 3. Ph: 9845852485
By Grieving, Mother & Family
fit
ing fine,” KIMS director Dr Ramlingappa (Bangalore , Mysore,
'R *WM cZ1 '9m 3 19 W 63/19-20
f 91 28.03 .2020 ;ib 1 mii df 1 3dcT fi f m k
31Nffm 4w see their mother. Antaratani said. “We allowed her to stay on ers, many from North Karna- Mangalore & Hubli).
1 * w71T A fqf m , gm WTA " A ffiw 74 Their mother was also worried and re- humanitarian grounds as the children were taka, who were stranded in
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PAM a4 3 a fit foam/ 311 1fir children. The administration agreed, pro- tion, just like doctors of the Covid ward. Her on their journey home. Some
w-4. ngFh iurfit fit *Wr wTfaFr2 vided the 32-year-old woman wore protec- swabs have been sent twice for tests and headed back to work as facto- For details contact For Remembrance or Obituary ads
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20 05.2020 ail
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1 01.04 2020 Fm: 74 tive equipment at all times and maintained have come negative.” ries have begun operating in 11
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PR' fF{wm -.4 A , $i LT
SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020
GANESHA SAYS
BEJAN DARUWALLA
A r i e s : Ganesha
says you rope in
your associates in
your dealings and this
proves to be a good move.
The attention also shifts
from the work front to
home and family and
there are many domestic
responsibilities and joys
to handle and enjoy.
Taurus:- Love and
money are the twin
themes of the peri-
od. You also find time to
relax. You do a juggling
act and manage it all well.
You will also be spending
a lot of time with loved
ones and that will give you
many happy moments.
The family is important.
Gemini:- Your peo-
ple skills will be at
their best and you
will get the support of
both colleagues and loved
ones. Partnerships and
collaborations are vital
and most beneficial in this
period. You sur mount
many obstacles. You find
great support and strength
in your association.
Cancer:- Money
and its jingle appeal
to you more than
ever before. You look at fi-
nances in a big way, as that
is the main theme of this
period. Personal and work
related finances hog the
limelight. There are tax
issues and all sorts of
monetary developments
that will take up your time.
You have to solve it all.
Leo:- Once the fi-
nances are worked
o u t , yo u g e t t o
spending the money
which you believe is hard
earned. There are many
e x p e n s e s a n d , fo r a
change, your creative in-
stincts blossom. If you are
on your own, you make
tangible expansion of the
business/enterprise.
Virgo:- You have
achieved a lot but
you don’t want to
s t o p h e r e. Yo u a r e
prepared to stick your
neck out like a platoon
commander flushing out
terrorists. You look for
h a r m o ny a n d t r y t o
s m o o t h t h e f e at h e r s
yo u h ave r u s t l e d i n
the past.
Clean-up curates a perfect
collection for Ray fans: Son
Continued from page 1
A
ccording to Sandip, who
has carried the Ray leg-
acy forward with a se-
ries of whodunits revolving
around his father’s fictional
sleuth Feluda, the long over-
due clean-up had thrown up
the perfect collection for Ray
fans to feast their eyes on dur-
ing his birth centenary on
May 2 next year.
“We used to clear a bit of
the loft once in a while, but
there was never this kind of
uninterrupted time to check
if there was anything terri-
bly important lying there,”
Sandip said.
Till 1959, the Ray family’s
address had been south Kol-
kata’s 31, Lake Avenue. From
there, they shifted to 3, Lake
Temple Road, before finally
moving to their 1/1Bishop Le-
froy Road address in the heart
of the city.
While shifting homes, a lot
of stuff kept piling up, but
throwing these away was nev-
er an option because the family
didn’t want to risk disposing
of something precious. But it
wasn’t until Sandip decided to
do some unhurried tidying
that he realised what an inval-
New SOP for bringing
back bodies from abroad
Continued from page 1
A
detailed standard operat-
ing procedure (SOP) for
“importation of human
remains of Covid-19 patients/
suspects” meant for immigra-
tion officials, was also issued.
The central government’s
clarification on the issue came
even as a petition was filed
during the day in the Delhi
high court by Bhatt’s cousin
seeking repatriation of the
mortal remains of his relative
at the earliest. The additional
solicitor general, represent-
ing the Union government,
submitted in the court that “it
was a unique case and the cen-
tral government was in the
process of framing SOPs so
that in future there is no diffi-
Libra:- Your concil-
iatory moves and
work success are
highly appreciated. You
are a social butterfly and
spend time at various
gatherings enjoying your-
self thoroughly. You are
ebullient and enthusiastic
and your happy mood is
contagious.
Scorpio:- You are
again on the work
track. You are con-
fident, pragmatic and de-
termined and will forge
ahead furiously. You earn
plaudits for your achieve-
ments and decide to
expand further and make
more money, which is
never out of your sights
for long.
Sagittarius:- You
give your best to
work and your rela-
tionships and there is
great intensity in whatev-
er you do. You extend your
hand towards humanity,
undertake social work
and spend quality time
with your children and/
or parents. You are full
of commitment.
Capricorn:- You see
yourself in a new
light and are em-
powered by your success.
The early part of the year
was hectic and now you
try to enjoy yourself and
ride on the momentum
generated in the previous
months. There is a wel-
come change in your per-
spective and the way you
are looking at the world.
Aquarius:- You are
busier than ever be-
fore and highly mo-
tivated in all that you un-
dertake – and it shows in
the results. You spend
quality time with loved
ones and there are possi-
bilities of exciting travel.
But there are pinpricks
like unexpected expenses,
ill-health in the family.
Pisces:- There are
many distractions
at play here. There
are partnerships, reli-
gious ceremonies, meet-
ings and interviews and
several business/collabo-
rations/connections, all
of which lead you into a
profitable, upward spiral.
www.bejandaruwalla.com
TOI
THE MASTER: Satyajit Ray
uable treasure the loft held.
Some of the negatives in
the collection have never seen
the light of day. “I don’t re-
member seeing them printed.
Among them are working
stills from Pather Panchali,”
Sandip said.
When shooting for Pather
Panchali began at Boral in
South 24-Parganas in 1952, ac-
claimed photographer Nimai
Ghosh hadn’t yet joined Ray’s
unit. Art director Bansi
Chandragupta, who had done
the production design of the
Ray classic, used to shoot
stills on the sets. Chances are
these negatives, once printed,
will add a fresh perspective
on the making of the classic.
Asked to give a rough esti-
mate of the retrieved negativ-
es, Sandip said the count was
culty in similar matters.” The
matter has now been listed for
hearing on April 27.
Bhatt, who was working at
a hotel in Abu Dhabi, had died
on March 17. After struggling
for several days to get his body
repatriated amidst the ongo-
ing lockdown, his family mem-
bers based in Tehri Garhwal
were eventually helped by In-
dian-origin social activist
Roshan Raturi who arranged
to send the body back to India
on April 24 after getting the
requisite clearances.
Bhatt’s cousin Vimlesh
Bhatt, who is based in Dehra-
dun, travelled to Delhi on Fri-
day to receive the mortal re-
mains but was told by immi-
gration authorities that they
had sent the body back.
Govt may announce 2nd set of sops
Measures To
Help Poor
And MSMEs
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Discussions in
the government on the stimu-
lus have pointed to the need to
provide support to the poor,
through the expansion of pub-
lic distribution system and oth-
er steps, and also help micro,
small and medium enterprises
(MSMEs), which are seen to be
among the most vulnerable,
through a variety of measures
instead of offering across the
board sops to the corporate sec-
tor, which is unlikely to benefit
Recovered TJ
men ready to
donate plasma
DurgeshNandan.Jha
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: Of the 142 Tablig-
hi Jamaat members who we-
re quarantined at AIIMS,
Jhajjar, 129 have recovered,
and many of them have agre-
ed to donate their blood for
plasma therapy to treat Co-
vid-19 patients in Delhi.
Dr Sushma Bhatnagar,
chairperson of Covid-19
services at the Jhajjar ho-
spital, told TOI, “We requ-
ested some of the recovered
patients to donate their blo-
od, and they readily agreed.
Now, we are working on the
logistics for the donation
and their stay.” She added
that the Tablighi members
had also agreed to give their
blood sample for future re-
search. . “Most of the Tab-
lighi members are from out-
side Delhi, some of them fo-
reigners. They cannot re-
turn to their hometowns.
We will talk to the authoriti-
es on where to shift them
and how to coordinate the
blood donation,” she added.
A 49-year-old patient ad-
mitted at Max Saket was the
first Indian to undergo plas-
ma therapy, and his doctors
claimed it helped speed his
recovery. The patient, who
had been on ventilator for
over a week, was weaned off
the machine three days af-
ter the therapy.
huge. “During those days, one
exposure meant 36 photos. We
have managed to retrieve at
least 25 such wallets,” he said.
Pather Panchali apart,
unseen negatives of the Apu
Trilogy and Jalsaghar have
also tumbled out. “These will
need to be cleaned and
scanned. Some have decayed.
Films, unfortunately, suffer
from what is called the vine-
gar syndrome. But what is left
remains absolutely price-
less,” Sandip said.
Besides stills from the
sets, there are negatives and
transparencies/slides that
are the Oscar-winning leg-
end’s own work. Ray was a
huge admirer of the French
photographer Henri Cartier-
Bresson, and the collection
that was hidden in the loft in-
cludes photos of people and
places shot by him during his
visits abroad.
“These photos show Baba
as a photo journalist. In some
cases, the colour has faded.
With the current technology
that is available, I am sure we
will be able to restore them,”
Sandip said, recalling that
some earlier photographs by
the master had been show-
cased in an exhibition.
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Notice No . E-121/02 dated 21.04.2020 and E-121/ 03 dated
21.04 .2020 available on the Institute 's web-site www .lni pe.edu. in
along with app lication form under "Job Opportunities ". The last date
for receipt of the application forms is 30 .05.2020.
TIMES NATION
FIGHT FOR SURVIVAL: An elderly woman holds LPG cylinders in a
rickshaw during the nationwide lockdown in Kolkata on Saturday
the consumers.
While finance minister
Nirmala Sitharaman had an-
nounced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore
package for the poor last
month, sources told TOI,
there was a need to expand the
Brothers die 2 weeks 10th Covid death in MP,
apart in UP family all gas tragedy survivors
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bareilly: A family in Mora-
dabad’s Nawabpura, which
has been quarantined ever
since one of its members, a
49-year-old man, tested posi-
tive for Covid-19 on April 9,
lost its second member to the
pandemic on Saturday. This
was the third death in the fa-
mily in the past 20 days.
The 44-year-old man,
who died on Saturday, was
the third brother the family
lost. His elder brother had
succumbed to the novel co-
ronavirus on April 13.
Prior to that, their eldest
brother, 70, had died due to
an “unknown” disease and
With 208 R&D projects, IITs lead India’s virus fight
Manash.Gohain
@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: India’s scien-
tific effort to contain and elim-
inate the threat of the novel
coronavirus is being led by 18
IITs, with experts engaged in
208 dedicated R&D projects
under seven different catego-
ries. As some of their work
starts yielding results, IIT-
Guwahati has shown the way
cornering the biggest pool of
projects, followed by IIT-Ma-
dras and IIT-Hyderabad.
Foreigners
in Goa host
rave parties
Keshav Naik
Mapusa: While the world is
fighting the coronavirus
pandemic by staying at ho-
me and maintaining social
distance, foreigners at Per-
nem—the northern most
tip of Goa—are busy arran-
ging and hosting rave parti-
es. One such attempt was fo-
iled by locals of Paliem and
Arambol late on Friday.
Sources said a cashew
farmer at his distillery on
the Arambol plateau saw
about 30 motorcycles travel-
ling in the jungle through
narrow lanes near a banyan
tree, more famous for the
drug-induced soirees.
He informed locals, who
contacted Arambol police
outpost. Two police vehi-
cles arrived and the foreig-
ners fled inside the jungle.
Furious locals then de-
flated tyres of the motorcy-
cles. “After locals informed
of the party, police rushed
to the site. We didn’t find
any foreigner,” said Per-
nem PI Sandesh Chodan-
kar. When TOI visited the
site on Saturday morning,
foreigners were trooping
out of the forest.
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coverage, with some of the
proposed measures providing
support beyond just the lock-
down period. The govern-
ment is set to announce a sec-
ond set of measures in the
coming days to counter the
was buried secretly in a ne-
arby graveyard on April 5.
The health department su-
spects that he also suffered
from Covid-19 since he had
visited the Nizamuddin area
in Delhi . Health officials sa-
id that at least 31 members of
the family and relatives – 12
women and 19 men – are un-
der quarantine.
After the first member of
the family had died of Co-
vid-19 on April 13, a team of he-
alth staff and policemen had
reached the Nawabpura area
to bring other family mem-
bers to the quarantine centre
when a mob pelted stones at
them, which left two doctors
and four policemen injured.
Nearly 50% of the key re-
search in India’s premier
technical schools are happen-
ing in six of the old IITs.
Majority of the researches
are happening in the field of
personal protective care equip-
ment (45 projects), followed by
sanitisation (33) and treatment
(30), both pharmacological
and non-pharmacological.
The other areas include testing
kits, medical equipment/ ro-
bots, surveillance and data
analytics, AI to model epidem-
ic patterns and disease dynam-
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impact of the lockdown,
which is seen to be essential to
prevent loss of lives.
Although, the lobby
groups have been brandish-
ing large numbers on the re-
quired size of support, the
government, after extensive
consultations with minis-
tries and experts, believes
there is a “stimulus indus-
try” at work, which is using
the pandemic as an opportu-
nity to seek concessions. For
instance, sops to the auto sec-
tor may not result in spurring
demand as consumers are
holding back expenses, espe-
cially of discretionary na-
ture, due to the massive un-
certainty in the global econo-
my. The stand comes despite
agencies such as NITI Aayog
playing along with industry
Ashutosh.Shukla
@timesgroup.com
Bhopal: The coronavirus
pandemic is turning out to be
hellish for survivors of the
1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, the
world’s worst industrial acci-
dent. Ten of them have been
killed by the virus now, spark-
ing panic in the community
that is bound by tragedy rath-
er than caste or religion.
All of Bhopal’s 10 dead Co-
vid-19 patients are gas vic-
tims. And nearly all of them
tested positive after death, in-
cluding the latest victim, 70-
year-old Razaq Qureshi, a res-
ident of Putlighar. He died at
the state-run Hamidia Hospi-
Majority of the
research is
happening in the
field of personal
protective care
equipment,
sanitisation and
treatment
ics. IIT-Madras and IIT-Guwa-
hati are researching in all sev-
en categories.
With projected funding of
over Rs 120 crore in the next 18
77,
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stimulus.
In any case, the open-end-
ed support offered by the UPA
in 2008 is seen to have caused a
lot of damage to the credit cul-
ture as well as price stability.
Instead, senior officials
said, the idea is to help the
MSME sector, which is suffer-
ing heavily as it lies in an area
where even a small setback
pushes it into the red zone.
MSME minister Nitin Gadka-
ri has talked about a Rs 1 lakh
crore fund to provide succour
to the sector which accounts
for a large chunk of manufac-
turing activity and jobs.
The need to keep the pack-
age focused on a few segments
is also necessitated by the re-
alisation that the Centre’s fis-
cal headroom is limited.
tal on April 22 and his report
came positive on Friday, said
Qureshi's son. He had hyper-
tension and diabetes.
Gas victims are particu-
larly vulnerable to Covid-19 as
exposure to the gas in 1984
damaged their lungs and oth-
er organs, and left them with
weakened immunity.
Madhya Pradesh high
court recently directed
BMHRC – the hospital exclu-
sively for gas victims – to test
every visiting patient for the
virus. By then, seven gas sur-
vivors had died without
knowing they had the corona-
virus infection, and the court
wanted to prevent this and fa-
cilitate early treatment.
months for these research pro-
jects, even the comparatively
new IITs are pitching in. The
year-old IIT-Mandi has three
research projects, IIT-Palak-
kad is researching in 10 key ar-
eas and IIT-Goa in one. Many
of the researches are at ad-
vance stage. According to T G
Sitharam, director, IIT-Guwa-
hati, “Various projects are al-
ready in production stages,
like the commercialised ones
which include full PPE suits,
UV-LED disinfectant, drone
technology for disinfection of
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allowed eKYC
using Aadhaar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The revenue
department has allowed 29
insurance companies and 9
stock market intermedi-
aries, including exchanges,
to undertake Unique Identi-
fication Authority of In-
dia’s Aadhaar authentica-
tion services under the Pre-
vention of Money Launder-
ing Act, 2002.
It will help the entities
perform real time e-KYC and
reduce their cost of transac-
tion, said finance secretary
Ajay Bhushan Pandey. The
facility has been allowed to
the intermediaries, subject
to the satisfaction of regula-
tory agencies, Insurance
Regulatory Authority of In-
dia (IRDA) and the Securi-
ties and Exchange Board of
India (SEBI), and compli-
ance with the standards of
privacy and security.
Experts: Set AC
in 24-30°C range
to curb corona
New Delhi: Amid common
concerns associated with
air-conditioning, ventila-
tion and the spread of coro-
navirus, a think tank has
recommended that the air-
conditioner temperature
should be ideally set be-
tween 24 and 30 degree and
humidity should be main-
tained between 40% and
70%. The guidelines have
been prepared by Indian So-
ciety of Heating Refrigerat-
ing and Air Conditioner En-
gineers. TNN
large areas which is not in use
in a few states. Then there is
full face protective shield
which is being manufactured
and being delivered on daily.”
The IIT is also ready with pro-
totypes of antiviral spray for
PPE, hydrophobic coatings for
masks, gloves, robots for waste
collection and delivering med-
icine and food to patients in
isolation wards.
A diagnosis and vaccine
development research has al-
so been signed with a compa-
ny for commercialisation.
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6 TIMES NATION SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020

Close to 6,300
Indians infected
UGC panel wants 6% growth in Covid cases in 24 hrs: Govt
in 50 countries, all colleges to start Lowest Rate
PTI

Govt stalls use of rapid testing kits

toll stands at 40 in Sept, forgo leave Since Crossing T he government is weighing the utility of the newly acquired
rapid antibody testing kits received from China amid
Sachin.Parashar@timesgroup.com
TIMES NEWS NETWORK tee, set up to suggest mea-
100 Cases concerns about variations in its results even as the Indian Council
of Medical Research is in the process of finalising its report on the
New Delhi: Close to 6,300 Indi- sures to improve online Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com tests. Official sources said there are concerns over a wide range of
an nationals abroad have tested Chennai: The new academ- education, was led by Indi- results even though some states found the kits useful.
positive for the novel coronavi- ic year for universities and ra Gandhi National Open New Delhi: India recorded a The high level group of ministers (GoM) on Covid-19, headed by
rus, posing a serious logistical colleges can start from Sep- University (IGNOU) VC six per cent growth in new ca- health minister Harsh Vardhan, on Saturday reviewed the testing
challenge to the government as tember instead of July in Nageshwar Rao. Both the ses on a single day, from 8am strategy and availability of testing kits across the country along
and when it decides to evacuate view of the Covid-19 pan- panels submitted their re- Friday to 8am Saturday, which with the strategy for hotspots and cluster management.
them. The number has almost demic, a panel appointed by ports on Friday and the is the lowest daily growth rate “The understanding so far is that there is no uniformity in results
doubled in the past 8-9 days as it the University Grants Com- ministry of human re- recorded since the country received through these tests. Even ICMR has found certain
stood at 3,336 on April 16. mission (UGC) has said. An- sources development is crossed 100 cases, the govern- STAYING IN TOUCH: A suspected Covid patient speaks to a relative discrepancies. In this context, the consensus is to defer a decision
The number of deaths of In- other panel has recommend- likely to issue a notification ment said on Saturday. during her isolation period at a hospital in Jabalpur on Saturday on rapid antibody tests,” a senior official said. TNN
dians caused by Covid-19 abro- ed conducting online exams next week after studying Since Friday morning, an
ad has also shot up to 40 from 25 wherever possible. If the the reports. increase of 1,429 cases has be- which is comparatively bet- said the situation is under cont- vid-19, timely imposition of na- ment has indicated that it has
during this period, official so- recommendations are im- The expert committee en reported, taking the total ter than several countries rol with timely measures and tionwide lockdown along with built capacity to ramp up tes-
urces told TOI. The infections plemented, students may also proposed to conduct number of Covid-19 confirmed and may be taken as a positive implementation of lockdown active contact-tracing and ag- ting of samples, if required.
are spread over 50 countries. not have winter holidays online test for end-semes- cases to 24,506 from 23,077 re- effect of the lockdown in the which helped improve the do- gressive surveillance led the Besides, the lockdown time
Singapore and Gulf count- next year, and colleges may ter exams. “Except Delhi ported on Friday by the health country. ubling rate from 5.2 days in the change in growth trajectory of was used to create hospital in-
ries together account for more have to work on Saturdays University, all other univer- ministry. The death toll due to The average doubling rate last week of March to almost 10 India's Covid-19 cases. frastructure dedicated for Co-
than 50% of the infections. and holidays to compensate sities expressed concerns Covid-19 rose to 775. of the country is 9.1 days as of days in last three days. The government is now vid-19 patients. In case of any
Singapore, in fact, has now ta- for the lost working days. about conducting online According to government now, the health ministry said. According to Niti Aayog working out a strategy for surge, once the lockdown is
ken over from Kuwait as the co- One of the committees test for end-semester ex- data, the current death rate is So far, 5,062 people have been member Dr V K Paul, who also post-May 3 when the lock- lifted and movement of peo-
untry where the highest num- led by Haryana University ams. It is difficult to con- around 3.1% while the recove- cured with a recovery rate of heads an empowered group on down is supposed to be lifted, ple starts, this health system
ber of Indians — more than a vice-chancellor RC Kuhad duct online exams as all ry rate is more than 20%, 20.66%. The government has emergency response for Co- at least partially. The govern- will play a significant role.
thousand — are infected. was formed to look into students may not be able to
Official sources here said ways of conducting exams write it online,” said the VC

Rajini fan kills

After chaos, govt spells Panic buying in
almost 90% of Indians infec- in universities amid the who was one of the special
ted in Singapore were wor- lockdown and work on an invitees to the UGC’s ex-
kers living in dormitories for alternative academic cal- pert panel to improve on-
foreign workers, where the endar. The second commit- line education.
Vijay fan over TN before 4-day
spread was expected.
The Singapore government
is said to be providing all medi-
cal and other assistance to the
Voice sampling leads Covid-19 relief out shop reopening rules total lockdown
workers. Indian high commis- Villupuram: A 26-year old ar- Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com Chennai: As feared, Tamil Na-
sioner Jawed Ashraf had earli- dent fan of Tamil superstar Ra- BMC projects 75k patients by end of May du government’s four-day
er this month visited one of
the dormitories where thou-
sands of Indian workers live.
cops in PPE to rapist jinikanth was arrested on Fri-
day for murdering his 22-year-
old neighbour, a die-hard fan of
New Delhi: Seeking to end
the confusion over its late
Friday night order allowing
Mumbai: The number of corona-positive cases in the city may
touch 75,000 by May-end, according to projections that the BMC
has worked out by extrapolating current trends. The majority of
‘complete’ lockdown gambit
for five ‘red’ hotspot districts
panned out disastrously on Sa-
Well over 2,000 Indians ha- Sudeept.Mishra the first cop to die from Co- actor Vijay, during a heated ar- opening of shops selling these — 63,000 positive patients — will have no symptoms of fever turday, when people poured out
ve also been infected in Gulf @timesgroup.com vid-19 in MP, admits he was gument over whose favourite non-essential items, the ho- or cough but 12,000 could have serious symptoms, including in thousands to stock up on es-
countries like Kuwait, Bahra- nervous about entering a hero made a higher contribu- me ministry clarified on Sa- breathlessness. An important decision, taken during a high-level sentials before the shutdown
in, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia Bhopal: Voice-sampling containment zone. But de- tion to the Covid-19 relief fund. turday that shops in mar- meeting held by the civic chief last week, is to ensure that every kicks in on Sunday.
and the UAE. Hundreds of In- technology and the steely termined to get justice for The accused A Dinesh Babu kets or market complexes Covid bed should have an oxygen pipeline. A review of patients Shops, small and big, mar-
dians are also infected in Iran. nerves of two police officers the 53-year-old survivor, he was remanded at Tindivanam will remain closed in urban showed that Covid causes a drop in oxygen levels. “If we give kets and roads were all teeming
The jump in the number of braving Covid-19 have led to fought off his fears. SP Central Prison on Friday eve- areas while standalone and oxygen to patients who are moderately ill, doctors believe there is with panicked crowd on a buy-
cases — from 3,336 to 6,300 — in the arrest of a history-shee- (South) Sai Krishna Thota, ning. Marakkanam police iden- neighbourhood shops and a chance the patient’s condition won’t deteriorate and he or she ing-spree, and the scene was
a little over a week is signifi- ter on Saturday for the rape who led the probe, joined tified the deceased as M Yuva- those in residential comp- may not need mechanical ventilation,” said a BMC official. TNN identical in Chennai, Madurai,
cant. MEA had first said in Par- of a blind bank employee in him. Clad in PPE, the two of raj, who lived right opposite Ba- lexes can operate in non- Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Sa-
liament on March 18 that 276 In- Bhopal a week ago. them patrolled narrow bu on Sandhikappan Temple containment zones. goods and relaxation for cer- open,” it stated. MHA sour- lem. There was least regard for
dians had contracted Covid-19 The case posed unique lanes on motorcycles to ze- Street at Marakkanam town. The Centre said shops of- tain categories of shops does ces said all markets in ur- lockdown protocol under Epi-
overseas. It took a month for it challenges for police. First, ro in on the suspect. The murder took place on fering services like salons, not extend to liquor vends ban areas, which are prone demic Diseases Act, Disaster
to increase to 3,336. After that the survivor couldn’t de- The man the cops nabbed Thursday afternoon when Yu- barber shops and restau- which will remain shut. The to large footfalls, will conti- Management Act and Section
though, it has taken just nine scribe the rapist, apart turned out to be a 25-year-old varaj, his younger brother Pa- rants will remain closed in ministry said its latest order nue to be closed. 144 of CrPC, as the cities experi-
days to shoot up to almost 6,300. from his voice. So, police burglar, Sahulal alias Manoj vithran and Babu were chatting both urban and rural areas. modifying guidelines impli- The order means that enced traffic snarls on roads.
While the Indian missions had to get suspects to say Kol, who got back into crime about the impact of the pande- The clarification followed ed that in rural areas, all while neighbourhood shops Essential as well as non-es-
remain in touch with local aut- the same thing the attacker as soon as he was released mic. Soon after, an altercation considerable confusion shops, except shopping like general stores and stan- sential items vanished from
horities to ensure proper treat- had told her during the sex- from a prison a few weeks broke out between Yuvaraj and over the Friday midnight malls, are allowed to operate. dalone shops selling items the shelves, fuelling fears of
ment for Indian patients, it re- ual assault so that she ago. He gave cops a hard Babu. The heated argument order that led to concerns In urban areas, it added, like stationery may open, imminent shortage, and there
mains open to speculation could identify him. time, and confessed only escalated to abuses and Babu, over crowding if market all standalone, neighbour- electronics and hardware was no monitoring of maxi-
whether or not they can return Second, the suspects when police showed an app in a fit of rage, suddenly threw places were to open. hood and shops in residenti- shops in organised market mum retail pricing rules.
to India soon. The Centre has so were in a containment on the woman’s mobile a stone towards Yuvaraj that The ministry also reitera- al complexes will be open. places will not. The home mi- Police personnel on road
far avoided bringing back from zone. SHO Chandrakant found on him — it was an app hit the latter’s right eyebrow. ted that e-commerce compa- “Shops in markets/ market nistry clarified that all res- duty could hardly enforce soci-
abroad Indian nationals who Patel, a batchmate of De- to follow commands from Yuvaraj died while on his way nies will continue to be pe- complexes and shopping taurants, salons and barber al distancing and compulsory
tested positive for Covid-19. vendra Chandravanshi, the visually challenged. to Marakkanam hospital. TNN rmitted to sell only essential malls are not allowed to shops will remain closed. wearing of facial masks. TNN

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SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020 SUNDAY SPECIAL 7

How Covid put the brakes on The things you can’t

do on video call
their study-abroad dream I t changes every day but right
now, the thing I miss most is
my best friend’s dining table.
I miss texting her, “Sister,
I’m walking over” and leaving
home without waiting on a reply.
Big
Mood
REGA JHA
Friends left behind, graduation ceremonies missed, hopes of foreign placements and work visas dashed… Out of my apartment gates and
left, past the tailor uncle sitting single screen. The standard pan-
Indian students studying abroad tell us how the pandemic upturned their lives and career plans street-side and the women selling
fish off chowkies, past raddi-
demic writing disclaimers hold:
millions of greater losses are be-
walas and familiar cigarette bhai- ing grieved. But the record of this
yas, then the falling-apart-in-a- big moment will include millions
Top 7 destinations for Indian students
HIS PHD AND STARTUP hip-way yoga studio then the of tiny personal renewals and this
falling-apart-genuinely bagel is just mine, just today: it turns
cafe, through bougainvillea shade out the phone in my hand can’t
PLANS GO AWRY and past the bright blue ganne ka
juice stall and left into her com-
meet every yearning.
It’s already where I go for work
UK China pound, magpie and calico cats and news and consumption and
Canada
123,940 19,750 23,198 Vatsal Shah | 25 lazing on verandah sills, and up production. Trying to hang out
two flights to her flat. with friends on it feels like trying
New Zealand* PhD at Imperial College, London I miss wandering into her to host an intimate potluck dinner
US 13,795
202,014 kitchen and shouting, “I’m mak- in the corner of a tube-lit office.

T
he pandemic could not have come at a worse time for ing tea, who wants?” and her boy- Like squatting in a kiddy pool and
Bahrain Australia
* only college level me. I am doing a PhD in chemical engineering with friend shouting back, “I waaant.” playing ocean sounds off of phone
27,000 10,7464
special focus on waste water purification. It’s my Settled at the table with our speakers and trying to ride a
final year of research which requires extensive time in the tea, she’d muse for the 400th time, wave. Better than doing nothing,
lab. As luck would have it, I had planned to spend the next “this late afternoon light is just sure — but actually experiential-
six months in the lab recording experiments that are crucial too good,” forcing the rest of us, ly nothing like that other thing.
for my thesis. The plan was to finish my thesis by December, a rotating cast of close friends, to We don’t have a choice, I know,
and then in 2021, I would have launched a start-up that would pause and, for the 400th time, but just let me whine for a second,
provide solutions for cleaning industrial and municipal gladly appreciate the too good late maybe just to counter-balance all
waste water. The reason for starting in the UK was that afternoon light. the Zoom party screenshots flood-
there are a lot of grants that make it easier to start a new Then senselessly, aimlessly, ing social media.
business there. Eventually I would have brought the busi- conversation would meander, re- Let me just throw the tantrum
ness to India. covering adolescent memories, that video-calling doesn’t allow
In the beginning of March, I was not so worried but when posing radical theories about love, for admiring the same light and
UK PM announced that the country’s plan was to develop weaving through by-lanes of our taking turns stepping away to
herd immunity, my family in Mumbai and I panicked. I took evolving — always evolving — make chai and getting fuller and
the flight back to India on March 13 and while I am safe and opinions on motherhood and dis- higher in tandem. It isn’t any
healthy, I am very worried about how things will pan out. sent and drugs and Instagram, good for silences — that crucial
One of the biggest concerns is funding. My scholarship giddily fuelled by a rhythm of ingredient of care — or the all-
is only till the end of the year and even if I do inside jokes and sometimes, only important improvised choreogra-
get an extension on the submission of my sometimes, paying our respects to phy of bodies quietly drifting
thesis, I don’t know if I will get an exten- the thrills of petty gossip. from the dining table to the floor
sion on my funding. I am also paying I miss all of our minds un- to the sofa to the window. (Per Gi-
rent for the house in London. I had spooling together like that, not bran: “Without words, in friend-
taken teaching assignments to support Chad Crowe

LONDON TO LUCKNOW, WITH BROKEN DREAMS
Malvika Agarwal | 21
Masters student at LSE
grateful that the pandemic didn’t hap-
pen earlier, and I got at least six
months to enjoy my new life.
Had things panned out normally,
walking to the campus from my apart-
ment, and the weather had just start-
ed turning lovely in London when
Covid cases started spiking. On March
myself and that source of funds has
also stopped because the college has
shut down. I am taking online classes
and getting paid for them but it is a drop
in the ocean. No one seems to have an
idea of when my university will
open or when I can head back.

S
ince my graduation days, I had
set my sights on getting into a
prestigious school abroad. In
September last year, I started my
one-year masters in statistics at the
London School of Economics. And
just when I had finally started
getting adjusted to a new culture, a
new city, a new way of learning, I
had to pack my bags and fly back
home to Lucknow.
I feel bitter about what has hap-
pened but on the brighter side I am
I would have got an internship and
then a job as a data analyst in the UK.
Now, working abroad is out of the
question and getting a job in India is
also not going to be easy.
Leaving my course mid-way has
been quite an emotional setback. I had
finally started settling in. I found a
place to stay, friends I could trust, and
was getting a hang of learning at an
international campus. I miss going to
the nearby Borough market and eat-
ing Japanese rice bowls there. I miss
16, India announced that it was going It is heartbreaking not be-
to suspend all flights from the UK ing able to work and I feel
from the next day. I booked a ticket on helpless sitting at home. I
the second-last flight out. I had to pack am using up the savings I
in literally three hours and didn’t had ke pt aside for
even get a chance to say goodbye to all my start-up which is de-
my friends. But I managed to go for a moralising. I am just
short walk to the Tower Bridge and hoping for a medical
just spent some time there. It was my miracle now.
way of bidding farewell to a city and
life I had fallen in love with. — As told to
Himanshi
— As told to Shobita Dhar Dhawan

NO CAP, NO GOWN. JUST
A MISSED MILESTONE
Palakshi Pal | 26
Masters at University of
Sydney
ed to take pictures in. You
work so hard and you want to
be able to celebrate but we
can’t do that. We’re not push-
TO GO OR NOT TO GO: OFFER IN
HAND BUT UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Meyha Bishnoi | 18
Has got admission in Imperial College
al acceptance from Imperial and the
stress is that if my grades drop even by
a point I can lose my place.
I was really looking forward to
noticing that her favourite after- Now we’re in touch
noon light had quieted to pre-dusk
purple, forgetting to check the in all sorts of ways.
time until our stomachs told us it
was time for dinner and we’d have You know, photos of
to decide what to do about it. food we’ve cooked,
Home food? What’s there? Or-
der in? Order what? Go some- idiotic memes and

T good sentences from

ing this, because everyone wo months ago when I got an ac- traveling overseas, living without my where? Where? I miss us, every

I
’ve been in Australia for
two years for a masters
degree in commerce at
the University of Sydney and
I had come back to India for
a wedding. I was supposed to
leave on March 14, but I obvi-
ously ended up cancelling my
ticket. All my stuff is there
since I mostly brought wed-
ding outfits and now I am
stuck in nightsuits. I wake
up every morning at 6am to
get ready for my online
classes.
This was my last se-
mester and I’m not even
going to be able to go for
my graduation ceremony
in October since Australia
has sealed their borders for
six months. I’m really upset
about that. Our campus is re-
ally pretty so we had already
decided which spots we want-
understands.
In Australia, any two-year
degree enables you to work for
two years in the country and
it’s easy to get a work visa that
way. That’s why a lot of inter-
national students want to go
there. But now there’s no clar-
ity about how that’s going to
work. I spoke to a lawyer there
to see if I can still apply for a
work visa. The lawyer said I
could come back on a tourist
visa and try to apply for a
work visa after that but it’s not
guaranteed and they will issue
visas on a case-by-case basis.
I was working at a fintech firm
doing marketing for them over
our summer break that starts
in November, but that has now
been canned. I can’t get a job
here or go back right now.
— As told to Ketaki Desai
ceptance letter from Imperial Col-
lege, London it was like a dream
come true. I am interested in bio-
logical sciences and I have been
planning and working for this
for several years now. Things
were falling in place and then
this pandemic happened and
everything has changed. My
exams were scheduled for
May but have got can-
celled and our teachers
will now be assessing us
on the basis of our
s ch o o l wo rk d o n e
through the year. This
is unprecedented. In the
annual exams you can
make up for your short-
comings to get a better
score but I don’t have
that chance now. The
only thing I can do is
wait till July to see my
score. I have a condition-
parents and starting afresh on this
exciting life. Now I have no idea what
will happen. There are so many ques-
tions in my mind. Will our visa re-
quirements require more rigorous
health screening? When will inter-
national travel finally begin? Will
our colleges even accept us?
If things were normal, I
would have been busy looking
for accommodation and ap-
plying for a visa. But all this
is at a standstill right now.
Fortunately, my educa-
tion is funded by my par-
ents but I have friends who
were planning to take educa-
tion loans and are now very
stressed about that. They are
considering options like apply-
ing in India or to colleges in less
expensive destinations.
— As told to
Himanshi Dhawan
single time, choosing — choosing!
— to stay in. (Remember choosing
to stay in?) Going anywhere would
mean breaking the perfect inertia
of talking shit for hours and none
of us ever had the heart.
Now we’re in touch in all sorts
of ways. You know, photos of food
we’ve cooked and idiotic memes
and good sentences from what-
ever we’re reading. It’s sweet, still.
She sent me Kahlil Gibran’s poem
“On Friendship”.
We video-call once in a while
too but I don’t feel like it too often.
Between us, there’s quiet consen-
sus not to do it much. Maybe see-
ing a friend’s face on a screen
lacks as much as it replaces. Or as
one friend put it: a pre-scheduled
“catch-up” is where comfortable
closeness goes to die.
I know it’s an odd thing to write
an ode to — sitting around lazily
with friends. It’s normally normal.
We’re meant to take it for granted
as a daily possibility. This feels like
whatever we’re reading.
But seeing a friend’s
face on a video call
lacks as much
as it replaces
ship, all thoughts, all desires, all
expectations are born and shared,
with joy that is unacclaimed.”)
I just want to see my friends’
faces without my own looking
back at me from a box in a corner
of the screen. One of love’s grand-
est gifts, I think, is letting us feel
seen without feeling like we’re
performing. On social media and
video-calls, I feel plenty seen, but
it’s impossible not to get sucked
into moments of performance. I
want to laugh so hard and listen
so attentively that I forget I have
a face. Or rather: I want to forget

IF I HAD TO STUDY ONLINE, I MAY AS WELL HAVE DONE A UDEMY COURSE
Nayanika Raj | 25 thing has shifted online. Although I am still
in LA living with my brother who works
MS in engineering management
here, it’s really frustrating to not be able
University of Southern California, LA
to attend classes on campus. I paid so
much money to come here and study.
about my campus life, studying in the library
is something I miss sorely. I am a pen-and-
paper kind of person who loves taking
notes. Now, with online classes there’s
hardly any use of pen and paper. We
ing, everything has become so expensive,
including ordering food online. I am franti-
cally applying for internships and would
be happy to intern even with a startup. I
know everything looks pretty grim right
paying tribute to windows or to ly-
ing down. (Which I would, tbh,
were I deprived of either.)
I especially didn’t expect it of
myself. I’ve spent years embrac-
ing virtual social spaces, con-
vinced and enthusiastically
convincing others that we can
I have a face so I can laugh hard
and listen attentively.
I miss the unselfconscious
knowing-and-being-known that
can only unfold in shared space,
no content being exchanged but
what’s within us, food being
shared rather than photographed

T
he first semester went so fast learning
how things happen here, how you
thank people for every little thing,
learning slang. I didn’t get a chance to ex-
plore LA much but the few times I went out
to eat with friends, it wowed me. And then
everything changed. I had taken up lot of
new classes to learn more but now every-
If I had to study online, I may as well
have done a Udemy course sitting
next to my mom in Delhi. I never
signed up for this. Some of my
friends have taken loans to fi-
nance their studies here and
this is so unfair.
While I miss a lot of things
are doing our submissions as required
but the fun has gone out of learning.
Even our spring break (March 15-
22) plans had to be cancelled.
I was a teaching assistant
(TA) but after the lockdown,
my TAship was revoked. And
with the dollar value increas-
now but at least I have one more year of
my course left. I want to keep a positive
outlook. I believe that once the lockdown
is lifted, and a vaccine comes, companies
will start hiring again. Meanwhile, I am
learning new skills to build my resume.
— As told to Shobita Dhar
meet one another on the internet
in all the ways that are worth
meeting at all. And I do still
find our connectivity genuinely
miraculous.
But for all my spirited digital
nativity, this is just me conceding
that life can’t be flattened onto a
— that family feeling that’s nour-
ished exclusively, irreplaceably,
by unscheduled, no-agenda to-
getherness through various states
of unpresentability and irritabil-
ity and mania and malaise. I miss
not noticing the light change at
my best friend’s dining table.

THE NEW HOT-SELLING ITEMS IN THE COVID-19 ERA... …AND THESE ARE FINDING FEW TAKERS
BAKING INGREDIENTS JUNK/COMFORT FOOD SHAMPOO, SHAVING ICE CREAM
Who doesn’t love some good old stress
baking (and the inevitable subsequent
This may not come as a surprise to most
Indians, but Maggi sales are up right now. In the
CREAM AND DEODORANT Seems like most
of us consume ice
Unilever has seen a slump in sales
stress eating)? Apparently everyone — US, frozen pizza kits went up by 243%, and the because who really cares how we smell cream outdoors
that’s why Hershey’s has seen chocolate UK is hoarding canned meat. Not all of us are using or look anymore? There’s no one to or as an impulse
syrup, baking chips and cocoa sales this time to become amazing chefs and flaunt their ryan shows on hot summer
judge your unkempt beard or greasy Actor Kartik Aa
go up by 30% in March, or why sales of elaborate dishes on Instagram, thank you very much hair, so go for it quarantine beard days, because
off his
flour have risen by 238%, according to a ice cream sales
report by ResearchAndMarkets.com have seen a major
HAIR CLIPPERS CONDOMS GUM AND COCA-COLA decline. Amul has

AND COLOUR A baby boom MINTS It’s not just booze sales
seen the demand
for ice cream fall
We have officially has been Same logic as that have plummeted
by 85%
reached the giving- predicted, the personal in the quarantine. Even
ourselves-bad-haircuts but some are hygiene cola has lost its fizz —
stage of the pandemic. stocking up products, smelly sales have gone down
That’s why demand for on condoms breath has never by a quarter in April
hair clippers (up 166% instead. been less of a concern as more of — because there are
per Nielsen) and hair The world’s us are throwing caution to the wind. no bars, restaurants or
colouring products is on largest condom maker Karex has seen After all, even those living with us movie theatres to drink
the rise so much demand, they’re running out have nowhere else to go the beverage at
8 ALL THAT MATTERS SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020

Let China invest. Polarisation is a driver of fake news as

It gets us foreign people are more ready to blame others
policy leverage Unless you’re living under a rock, chances are you’ve been
bombarded by fake messages peddling cures and conspiracy
may enable various forms of healthcare-
related fake news. In the cognitive environ-
ment, polarisation is a driver of misinfor-
SWAMINOMICS theories about Covid-19 in the last few weeks. A recent study by mation, because it enables for a willingness
to believe that problems in one’s life are
SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
Joyojeet Pal, associate professor at the School of Information, attributable to a perceived antagonist group.

I have castigated the government for curb-
ing Chinese investments in India. Critics
accuse me of endangering national secu-
rity by espousing unhindered entry of a
superpower that is not-so-friendly, if not an
outright foe. Chinese companies are not normal foreign in-
vestors because the Chinese government has large stakes
in or total control of its corporations, so all Chinese invest-
ment is ultimately political. The government fears China
will take advantage of low stock market prices to take over
strategic industries and otherwise misuse its ownership.
Sorry, but in terms of foreign policy leverage, the truth
is exactly the opposite. India can certainly list and prohibit
companies of strategic value from takeover by any foreign-
er. India should also ensure that it does not lose data control
— it has already decreed (despite US opposition) that foreign
companies will have to store data on Indian servers.
Subject to such safeguards, the more China invests in
India, the greater will be India’s leverage over China since
it can threaten changes in rules and laws on foreign invest-
ment to China’s disadvantage. Such leverage must not be
used lightly but is of value.
Foreign investors say India is notorious for arbitrary
changes in rules and laws to hurt outsiders. It has a long
track record of letting foreign investors in and then bashing
them. I and other critics have called this bad economic
policy. But it certainly means foreign investors are more at
risk than India.
Just ask Walmart, which paid a whopping $16 billion to
acquire Flipkart. It seemed that Walmart and Amazon would
now dominate e-commerce. But the government changed its
e-commerce rules, limiting activities by foreign e-commerce
firms while imposing no such limits on Reliance Jio, the
only Indian company capable of combating the global giants.
The move favouring Reliance was brazen, unapologetic na-
tionalism. At a stroke, Walmart’s $16 billion was turned into
a huge overpayment, and Indian strategic control of e-com-
merce was affirmed.
Earlier when Vodafone entered India through an acqui-
sition, it had a $2 billion dispute over capital gains tax. The
Supreme Court upheld Vodafone. But the government
changed the law with retrospective effect to make Vodafone
pay after all!
Nokia built a giant phone handset factory in Tamil Nadu.
But the government raised an inflated tax demand which,
with penalties and interest, went up to Rs 10,000 crore. Some
news reports claimed Nokia had suffered for a refusal to pay
WELCOME THE DRAGON: Aggressive Chinese bidders can
University of Michigan, and other researchers, reveals that Several social media campaigns have used
maximise auction prices when PSUs go under the hammer misinformation about the pandemic has steadily increased since humour to spread awareness about the virus.
How effective are these?
bribes. Nokia shut down. Eventually after international
January. Pal spoke to Sonam Joshi about why some kinds of fake Humour is very effective in the virality
arbitration in 2018, the matter was settled for a reduced tax news have become more rampant than others of these campaigns, how effective they
payment of Rs 1,600 crore. Still, this highlighted the risks actually are in changing behaviour is
to foreign investors. You have studied the growth negative messaging about the harder to tell. The Jaipur police had a vi-
Several foreign companies bid for and got 2G telecom of fake news over Covid 19 since FOR THE Chinese to lionising subsets of ral message that threatened to force lock-
licences. But the Supreme Court struck down all licences
because there was no auction and some Indian companies
January. How has it grown, and
what are the three biggest cat- RECORD Indian culture are also useful
in understanding how some of
down-breakers to listen to the terrible
remake of Masakali on loop. This is an
were allegedly favoured. Foreign companies protested that egories of misinformation that the later culture-related mes- idea that was already used very success-
they were blameless and should not be penalised. But they have thrived? saging emerged. fully by Kerala Police that has routinely
were all thrown out despite having invested millions and It isn’t possible to give a percentage number By mid-March, we see way more misin- used humour on social media to do large-
were denied any compensation. to the growth, since we can only measure formation post the Tablighi Jamaat issue, scale awareness and outreach campaigns.
In the 1950s, Burmah Shell, Esso (now called Exxon) what is debunked. From mid-Jan to mid- shifting the ‘community of blame’ from the
and Caltex were wooed to set up refineries and retail out- March, there were anywhere between 3-15 Chinese to Indian Muslims. Since the eco- Do you think social networks are serious
lets in India. But in the 1970s, price controls were imposed stories being debunked in any given week. system of blame was already in place, that about combating fake news?
to make them uneconomic, and they ultimately sold out Since mid-March and April, there have been kind of misinformation took off quickly It is a public relations embarrassment
to the government for a pittance. Changes of rules on between 30-60 being debunked weekly, not with a section of Indians already primed to for many social networks, but at the same
foreign investment in 1977 obliged IBM and Coca Cola to to mention the old ones that still circulate. believe negative news about Muslims. time, the networks get usage and footfall
exit India. India has downed many of the biggest multi- The three top categories are on culture from fake news. That said, several of the
national corporations. and ethnicity, on government and institu- Does India have a bigger fake news prob- social network groups have made grants
In sum, the problem is not that India risks being taken tions, and on cures and treatment. Back lem than other countries or is it a global prob- to study social media, so there is an at-
over by foreign investors. Rather, even the biggest foreign when the Covid crisis began, when it was lem? Do you find any aspects that are unique tempt to put money towards the problem.
investors risk being taken to the cleaners by India. So, what still being referred to as the Wuhan Crisis, to India?
if Chinese investors are really the Chinese Communist there was relatively high misinformation Not necessarily. There are two major drivers Some of those fake forwards look so au-
Party? Next time India fixes a foreign investor, may it be the on casualties, and fake graphic imagery of fake news. In terms of facilitating the thentic and official. What should people do
Chinese Communist Party. of sickness or death attributed to the vi- spread and mechanics of fake news, there before forwarding what they receive?
Once, foreign oil companies in the Middle East virtu- rus. An example was a revolting video of is the ecosystem of encrypted platforms, People should generally practise waiting a
ally ran countries they invested in. When they were na- a maggot removal presented as a Cov- such as WhatsApp, on which attribu- minute before sending out anything —
tionalised by Iran’s Mosaddeq in 1951, the UK and USA id case, which went viral in India, tions are not clear, and these plat- whether an angry email, or a WhatsApp
organised a coup to oust him. That colonial era is long gone. but also elsewhere. forms are widely used in India, forward. If people read through a typical
In 1974, all OPEC countries nationalised the biggest oil Likewise, there was also more thus people are more prone to fake news story, they will find that there are
companies, and even the US was helpless to stop it. The conspiracy theories around the getting access to misinforma- enough hints in the way fake news is craft-
supposed puppets triumphed over the supposed puppeteers. sources of the virus, which had an tion. The second driver is the ed — the language, the statistics, the im-
Lesson: massive foreign investment is a bigger risk for animal/nature component, but also cognitive environment for fake agery — that they can spot what may be
the foreigner than the investee country. So, let us attract offensive cultural references to Chi- news — different things drive wrong. Practically any fake news out there
as much Chinese investment as possible, since the main nese people and practices. Messages that. For one, existential panic would be verifiable through a quick web
risk will be theirs, not ours. Yes, stock market prices are about meat and the virus also had a of some kind such as a stock search. Plus there are apps which will do a
depressed today, but that is good reason to encourage Chi- related implicit message of high- market or bank crash may verification. Perhaps the most important
nese inflows that raise prices. The government wants to lighting the value of a veg- make people more thing people should do first is to ask the
raise over a trillion rupees by auctioning public sector etarian lifestyle as re- willing to believe sender publicly, if it is on a group, if they
companies. We need aggressive Chinese bidders to max- sistant/preferable financial misin- know something to be true (and feel satisfied
imise auction prices. to avoid this and formation just with the response) before forwarding it on.
other viruses. as a health- If something is untrue, they should likewise
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Trump’s anti-immigration order busts the model minority myth of desis

BY INVITATION
SANDIP ROY
In the name of saving American
jobs in the middle of the Covid-19
pandemic, Donald Trump has hit
the pause button on immigration.
“By pausing immigration, we’ll
help put unemployed Americans first in line for jobs
as America reopens,” he said. The order might only
affect green card applicants for now but then most
of the 800,000 waiting for green cards are Indians.
But Trump’s move, a clear attempt to bolster his
base ahead of the US election, shakes the very foun-
dation of the image of America in the minds of many.
This is a country where the immigrant story has had
its fullest most Technicolor rendition, where politi-
cians routinely boast about their immigrant roots.
The American Dream is the immigrant story — com-
ing to America with sixty dollars in his pocket and
ending up as a Silicon Valley startup entrepreneur
or a Nobel laureate or the owner of a chain of motels.
I was one of those immigrants, the quintessential
upper-middle class Indian brain drain story. In a way
being an immigrant was the most valuable life lesson
I could have learned, to leave my comfort zone and
understand what it meant to be the other, to be dif-
ferent in skin colour, in accent, in the turmeric stains
under my fingernails. But I also learned that my
immigrant story was built on the stories of many
other immigrants around me — the Mexican farm-
worker picking lettuce, the Chinese ladies running
dim sum kitchens, the Bangladeshi waiters at the
Indian restaurant, the Arab corner store owner, the
Vietnamese nail salon. The hidden victims of the
9/11 carnage were scores of immigrants without
papers — deliverymen, construction workers, bus-
boys and janitors. Trump’s executive order punches
a hole in that very idea of the American Dream be-
ing available to anyone willing to work for it.
But it should not come as a complete surprise.
American history has always been a complicated
tango between immigrant grit and nativist xeno-
phobia. The Asian Exclusion Act of 1924 is the most
notorious, invoking the idea of the “yellow peril”
long before Trump talked about the “Chinese vi-
rus”. The Indian subcontinent once fell under the
“Asiatic Barred Zone”. Chinese immigrants were
lynched. Indian immigrants were routinely turned
away because they were regarded as infected by
hookworm. In 1923, the US Supreme Court ruled
in the case of Bhagat Singh Thind that South
Asians could not become naturalised citizens.
Writer Erika Lee’s The Making of Asian America
tells the story of Vaishno Das Bagai, an Indian im-
migrant who had opened a general store in San
Francisco and set up his life there with his wife and
children. The court ruling devastated him. In 1928,
he turned on the gas and ended his life. His suicide
note read “What have I made of myself and my
children? We cannot exercise our rights.”
Yet it is also true that America is where immi-
grants thrived from farmer-turned-congressman
Dalip Singh Saund to Google’s Sundar Pichai. They
left the red tape and lumbering bureaucracy of India
and reinvented themselves in America, owning that
coveted 3BR-3BA home in a suburban cul-de-sac.
Indians, now a 4 million strong diaspora, have been
happy to reap the benefits of being anointed the
“model minority”. They were the winners of spelling
bees, whiz kids with Ivy League degrees, hot shot
bankers, academics and doctors, sometimes forget-
ting they were also gas station workers, janitors and
working the graveyard shift at donut stores. The Pew
Research Center reported in 2010 that the median
income for Indian-American families was almost
twice the national average. The 1910 government
commission that deemed Indians “the most undesir-
able of Asiatics” was a distant memory.
Many Indians bought into that model minority
myth and the mantra for success was to be non-
threatening, keep your head down, focus on your
grades, and drive your Honda Accord. The Berkeley
South Asian Radical History Walking tour busts
that myth, telling the stories of Indian protesters
that go all the way back to 1908. But as Indian-Amer-
icans have prospered economically, they have often
distanced themselves from the struggles of African
Americans and other immigrant communities,
preferring to sit on the sidelines of civil rights de-
bates though reaping its benefits.
Some Indian-Americans insisted that Trump’s
electoral rhetoric was aimed at those crossing the
border illegally, not “good” immigrants like them.
After all, he took pains to appear before Indian au-
diences and declare his love for India. He made a
cameo appearance at the Howdy Modi rally in Hou-
ston. But as the executive order shows, in the end
when the axe falls on immigrants everyone is vul-
nerable. This order might be rescinded after 60 days.
But its message will reverberate far longer.
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Unite & Save: Indians need to INBOX

close ranks to fight corona war
POLITICALLY INCORRECT
SHOBHAA DE
With only 10 days left for the lock-
down to lift (inshallah!), let’s hope
and pray it won’t be a case of ‘May
Day’, signalling a health emer-
gency across the most affected
states in India (Maharashtra being in the top three
as of now). This has been the single most disorient-
ing experience for the world — worse than any
other war. Though, as worthy intellectuals hastily
point out, the Covid-19 pandemic should not be de-
fined as a ‘war’ since the deadly virus has no ‘feel-
ings’, no ‘malafide intentions’ and no ‘emotions’.
In that sense, it is ‘innocent’ of any wrongdoing
and it is stupid of us to invest it with human attributes
— a microbe does not seek ‘revenge’, it merely spreads
and unknowingly devastates all in its path. That’s
what microbes do! Have always done through record-
ed history and will continue to do in future, much
after we have dealt with the novel Covid-19 virus. Deal
with it, humans! Since most of us are indeed pretty
stupid, we need to put a face on the pestilence. It’s fine!
We cannot think like scientists and researchers, and
when we put a face on the ‘enemy’, it helps us to fight
… fight our own fears, particularly since, at this point,
there are zero weapons available to tackle the virus.
In such a surrealistic scenario, it is important
to keep collective morale up and arm ourselves to
the teeth to go into battle mode, suitably clad in
combat gear, to take on the almost insurmountable
ordeal ever faced. What do we stupid folks have in
our arsenal — umm, let’s see… we have masks that
may or may not protect us, and gloves of a dubious
quality. That’s it! The lethal virus seems to be out-
smarting our smartest, by being a hundred steps
ahead in terms of war-room strategy and modes of
attack. Do we have the staying power to defend our-
selves over the next two, maybe even five years?
These are questions simple-minded and very anx-
ious people are asking. There are no answers at the
moment, but each day brings a tiny positive nugget
with it that we grab gratefully with both hands. Fight-
ing a fierce battle makes us feel heroic. We see our-
selves as brave soldiers going into a war zone, know-
ing fully well what the risks are. If we get hit, we be-
come overnight martyrs. And that martyrdom com-
forts the rest — those who see themselves as backups
or reserve soldiers. When we stare glumly at deserted
streets and shuttered stores, when we talk obses-
sively about rations running out at the nearest kirana
store, when we hear about the possibility of extended
curfews and more curbs — yes, we are talking ‘yuddh’.
We cannot let our defences down, particularly during
a ceasefire which the ‘enemy’ is known to violate.
War demands sacrifice. That’s a given. Citizens
are making the kind of sacrifices they had never envis-
aged during their lifetime. Now there is talk of a food
NEED OF THE HOUR: The only ‘lynching’ that should be
tolerated is that of Covid-19
emergency — a hunger pandemic — coming up. An
inevitable and tragic fallout of a war. Fortunately, the
harvest in India has been bountiful this year, and the
granaries are full, according to government sources.
That’s good news — for now. If the enemy decides to
lie low for a while, get further reinforcements and
strike back harder than ever, like it has in other coun-
tries, what then? So far, the Indian government has
confronted the crisis head on and effectively. Forget
about India not being Kerala and all those romanti-
cised narratives which don’t really help anybody —
let’s be honest, the Kerala model works in Kerala.
Let’s learn from America’s monumental mistakes
(which will, in all probability, cost President Trump
his re-election), and avoid the errors, which have
claimed over 50,000 American lives so far. Trump, the
self-styled general in this war against a microbe, has
exposed himself for being the monumental egotist
and ignoramus he is (“We were attacked,” he yelled!).
But his defeat doesn’t change a thing — we, in India,
with our staggering numbers and a multiplicity of
associated problems, need to figure out our own modus
operandi. Our citizens understand herd mentality, not
herd immunity. If we tackle the virus using our own
belief systems (ancient and contemporary) and plain
common sense, we will do a better job than some of
the other countries still struggling to deal with the
ferocity of the attack on their populace.
The deadly Covid-19 adversary spares no one. Not
all the combined money and military power of Amer-
ica has succeeded in cowing down this rival to its
supremacy. Donald Trump can wear his Batman
mask and cape for Halloween 2020 — but the last laugh
will still be on those who trusted him in the first place.
The time for dirty politics is clearly over, not just in
America, but the rest of the world, as well. Closer to
home, citizens are looking for just one thing — a vac-
cine out of India for Indians and all those who need
it globally. The only ‘lynchings’ that will be tolerated
will be that of Covid -19. So, dear netas of all hues,
spare us these cruel and sadistic political games. Fo-
cus on saving, not taking lives.
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Stop communalising
Covid-19, let’s unite
This refers to ‘Covid-19 can be
cured, but who will cure the
communal virus?’ (ATM, April 19).
It is wrong to blow out of
proportion the event at Delhi’s
Nizamuddin Markaz where
Tablighi Jamaat members had
congregated. Some vested
interests are seeing an
opportunity there to further their
communal agenda. Sadly, they are
being tacitly supported by
politicians for future electoral
gains. When a crisis of such
magnitude has overwhelmed us,
can’t we, for once, keep our petty
bickering aside?
Kamna Chhabra, Gurugram
Economy needs relief too
This is with reference to ‘Ease
shutdown or we may get worst of
both worlds’ (ATM, April 19).
India’s economy, already in the
red before the pandemic struck,
will find it extremely difficult to
recover from the Covid-19 shock.
We are already staring at small
businesses folding up and job
losses. The situation is more bleak
for the poor. The ongoing
shutdown is coming at a huge
cost. One wonders whether the
cure is worse than the disease.
Vijai Pant, Hempur
WFH for a green world
This refers to ‘Covid lesson: How
to learn to stop worrying and love
WFH’ by Indrajit Hazra (ATM, April
19). Apart from the usual benefits
mentioned in the article, one
major environmental advantage of
WFH is reduction in sound and air
pollution levels due to less traffic
movement. If a large proportion of
employees start working from
home, traffic movement will be
relatively faster, smoother, and
reasonably stress-free.
B Nalavade, Pune
Email your letters to the editor at
sunday.times@timesgroup.com
with ‘Sunday Mailbox’ in the subject line.
Please mention your name and city
The question confronting us:
What’s the cost of saving lives?
THE UNDERAGE OPTIMIST
CHETAN BHAGAT
If you are easily offended, or incapable
of discussing unpleasant choices, such
as lives vs livelihood, which we face
right now, I’d suggest you do not read
this article. As we head into the fifth
week of the lockdown, with little clarity on what lies
ahead, it is nonetheless important to discuss the conse-
quences of our current choices. We have currently cho-
sen to lock down our entire country to protect ourselves
from the dangerous Covid-19 virus.
The Indian lockdown is being regarded as one of the
toughest in the world. Case growth in India has been
modest so far. It is fair to say that the lockdown is work-
ing to a large extent and we have saved some lives. And
since lives have no price on them, all this is worth it. The
logic is sound. If lives are priceless, they’re worth saving
at any cost — that’s the current mantra.
Except, we Indians have never really applied this
principle when it comes to saving lives from causes
other than Covid-19. For instance, in 2019, according to
a UN report, over 8,00,000 Indian infants died. The key
causes were preventable — poor nutrition, sanitation
and healthcare. If we spent ‘whatever it takes’ on these
measures, we surely could save say a quarter, or 2,00,000
of these lives. But we don’t, do we?
The overall infant mortality rate in India is around
3%. This fatality rate is higher than that of coronavirus.
Yes, the chances of a child dying simply because s/he
was born in India is higher than the probability of some-
one dying if they contracted Covid. Most of these infant
deaths are preventable. In the developed world, infant
mortality rate is only 0.3%, a tenth of the Indian level.
If we attacked infant mortality like we are attacking
corona right now, we would see dramatic results in terms
of saving lives. Yet, we don’t. We don’t think the addi-
tional resources are worth it.
In Gorakhpur, an oxygen supplier to a hospital didn’t
get paid a sum of Rs 60 lakh despite repeated reminders.
As a result, oxygen was cut off. At least 30 children died
in 48 hours. That translates to roughly Rs 2 lakh per
child. How come we didn’t think that ensuring good pay-
ment systems for our hospitals was worth it?
Various research houses and industry bodies esti-
mate cost of up to Rs 10 lakh crore to the Indian economy
due to current lockdown. Worth it? Well, lives can’t be
quantified. However, let’s do a quick analysis by compar-
ing these measures to others. Let us say if we did not do
any of the current measures. Hence, say a million lives
would be lost (a highly exaggerated figure). If we divide
this cost of the lockdown with the lives saved, it gives us
a figure of around Rs 1 crore per life saved. Also, most
of the lives saved will be those of the elderly.
Now look at the number of total government hospitals
in India, which is a little over 10,000. Let us say the govern-
ment gave Rs 10 crore to each of them to upgrade facili-
ties/hire doctors. The total bill for this will be Rs 1 lakh
NO SMALL PROBLEM: If we attacked infant mortality like
we are attacking corona, results would be dramatic
crore. If with these extra resources, each hospital could
just save a mere 2 lives per week (will be much higher in
reality), it would amount to 100 lives saved per year per
hospital or a million lives saved overall. On a per life saved
basis, it comes to 10 crores per hospital divided by 100, or
Rs 10 lakh, a tenth of what it costs to save a life fighting
Corona. These are conservative estimates. In reality, even
a mere Rs 1 lakh can save a life sometimes, or a hundredth
of what it costs to save a life from Covid.
It seems heartless to discuss lives in terms of money.
But governments across the world make such tough
choices daily. One life may be priceless, but the hard-sta-
tistic on what it costs to save a life is not. The cost com-
parisons are not just in healthcare. New footbridges in
Mumbai local train stations could have saved a lot of lives.
We chose not to make them — as we didn’t think saving
those lives was worth the cost. People died. We don’t al-
ways spend to upgrade the quality of water or air — the
costs involved and lives saved don’t seem worth it.
A major economic downturn has other costs too. Un-
employment and bankruptcies will lead to a rise in all of
the following — depression, suicide rates, domestic vio-
lence, crime, terrorism. All these directly cost lives, if not
just great economic hardship and pain. As we remain in
lockdown, many cases of cardiac diseases, cancers, dia-
betes are going undetected. These will cost lives later too.
The media frenzy around corona, our own panic re-
garding this disease, a desire to be seen as a responsible
country in the eyes of the international community are
making us look at corona differently than almost any-
thing else we have in the past. There is definitely a genu-
ine, underlying intention to protect Indians from this
disease. However, we cannot ignore the economic reality
of our country and our existing problems versus the rest
of the world. Mere emotion can’t drive this anymore. We
have to balance our fears about corona, with the ugly
tradeoffs the measures will create. Maybe a plan with
somewhat less stringent measures may be more sustain-
able. Frankly, it might all we can afford as a nation any-
way. As we continue with the lockdown, it is time we
unlock our minds and see this problem from every per-
spective before we decide what to do next.
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 BENGALURU, SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2020 SPIRITUAL PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

SACRED
SPACE
DO NOTHING
Buddhist monk THICH NHAT HANH asks us to stop running all the time
Which Body Should
The Soul Enter?
YOG GURU SURAKSHIT GOSWAMI
In Moderation

R
unning has become a If the soul established in the
He who is regulated in his habits of habit. Not only during doesn’t have Self. It is un-
eating, sleeping, recreation and work the day, but also in the a sense of touched by the
night, in our sleep and perception, sorrow and tur-
can mitigate all material pains
dreams.That is why it is how does it bu l e n c e t h a t
by practising the yoga system. decide which
good to practise ‘stop precedes death.
Bhagwad Gita 6.17 running,’ to sit down, doing nothing, just body to enter The chitta
✥ feeling you are home and you want to rest. after it leaves stores the com-
Be not righteous overmuch, and do You might like to enjoy the music of your its old body? plete account of all our
not make yourself overwise; why breathing in and out. Your heart is playing — Vandit Nanavati, good and bad deeds. At the
should you destroy yourself? music, and your lungs, too. Tune into that 25 years time of death, a karmic
Be not wicked overmuch, music. And whenever feelings or emotions ■ Atman is eternal, omni- blueprint is created in the
neither be a fool; why should you arise, you allow that music and embrace it. present, immortal and chitta, with the help of pra-
die before your time? Enjoy it. formless. It does not take na. When prana leaves the
Ecclesiastes 7.16-17 The practice of stopping is very crucial birth, experience life or old body, it takes with it
✥ in the Buddhist tradition. Even when we death. As it the power
The man who makes everything are not doing anything, just sitting there or is immortal, ASK SURAKSHIT of the sens-
lying down, our body has not stopped. it remains es, mind, in-
that leads to happiness depend upon
There is tension inside, a kind of energy unborn, does not suffer, tellect and the ego.
himself and not upon other men, that pushes the body. It wants to do some- nor does it ever die. It gives It also carries the deep
has adopted the best plan for living thing, to be active, to run.That is why stop- life to the jiva, the individ- impressions stored in the
happily. He is a man of moderation, ping is not just stopping the mind but stop- ual being, and that is its chitta and according to its

the man of character and of wisdom.
Plato
✥ there is a feeling of restlessness. By helping
In practising ordinary virtues and in
the exercise of care in ordinary
conversation, when there is
deficiency, the superior man never
fails to make further effort, and
where there is excess, never
dares to go to the limit.
Doctrine of the Mean 13.4.8
✥ when you run; you can do a jogging med-
Be generous but not extravagant,
be frugal but not miserly.
Nahjul Balagha, Saying 32
✥ searching for anything at all. You are com-
He has counted all the days and
breaths, and placed them in people’s
destiny; they do not increase or
decrease one little bit.
Guru Arjan Dev
✥
If one oversteps the bounds of
moderation, the greatest
pleasures cease to please.
Epictetus
ping the body, because the body also has the
habit of running, of being in movement and
the body to stop, we can help the mind to
stop also. We practise with body and mind
at the same time.
You can’t meditate with your mind
alone. You need your body as well. The
Buddhist term for stopping is samatha.
Without stopping, you cannot do much.
With practice, you can stop when you sit,
you can stop when you walk and even
itation. You know that you have stopped
even while you are running, because you
are not running after something.You are not
pletely at ease in the present moment.That
is the meaning of samatha. It sounds easy
but it needs some training.
You need a strong will and a deep desire
in order to stop, because the habit of running
is very strong in us, transmitted to us from
our parents, who probably inherited it from
our grandparents and ancestors, having run
all their lives.The habit energy of ‘not stop-
ping’ is very strong. But as the Buddha said:
‘Stop, my child!’We have a chance to trans-
form this habit energy and if we succeed in
THICH NHAT HANH CONDUCTING A REQUIEM IN HANOI IN 2007
stopping, then it will help all our ancestors
within us to stop at the same time. ‘I have
arrived!’ It means ‘I don’t feel the need to
run any more.What I am looking for is right
here, right now. I am home!’We need insight
in order to really stop.
Vipassana is like the other wing of the
bird. It is the practice of looking deeply in
order to get insight. By looking deeply, we
realise that everything we want to become
is already there inside us, and this
makes us feel that we no longer
need to run. That is why we need
insight, in order to stop running.
Without insight, no matter how
hard you try, you can’t stop.
You need both samatha and
vipassana in order to stop running,
otherwise it is like a bird trying to fly with
one wing.The purpose of samatha is to help
you heal. You may have wounds in your
body, a disease, or a wound in your con-
sciousness. There may be anger, despair or a
lot of injustice. But if you don’t know how
to stop running, there can be no healing.
GETTY IMAGES
When you breathe in, you breathe in such
a way that makes the healing possible. Be-
cause your in-breath is not a fight, it is an
expression of arrival. ‘Breathing in, I have
arrived. I don’t need to run.’ And if your
in-breath is like that, it has the power of
healing. That in-breath releases all tension,
allows your body and feelings to relax. As
the Buddha said: ‘Breathing in, I relax my
body’ And in another exercise, the Buddha
said: ‘Breathing in, I relax my feel-
ings, my emotions.’
You can only relax your body
when you stop. Your in-breath has
the capacity of stopping. And when
your in-breath has this capacity, it
becomes very pleasant. It becomes
deeply enjoyable. Breathe in such a
way that every in-breath has the power to
heal. Breathe in such a way that allows your
body to heal. (Ahimsa Trust represents Thich
Nhat Hanh in India. It offers talks, retreats
and Mindfulness meditation practice ses-
sions, including online during the Covid-19
pandemic. Call 8860694315). ■
only association with it. karma, journeys to find a
Individuals have free will new body. It is said that
that allows them to choose when the jiva finds an ap-
their course of action, and propriate body in a prede-
this freedom of choice ter mined species —
sets the wheels of karma in through the karmic cycle
motion. — it manifests through the
The theory of karma new body.
says that we have to reap The jiva continues to
what we sow. However, not enjoy physical and materi-
all karmas come to fruition al life until the body lasts.
at the same time; some rip- Then again the karmas that
en, but for the remaining the jiva accrues in this life
karmas to settle, we have to come into play. With the
take several births. help of atman, the jiva is
An individual is re- able to be reborn.
sponsible for his own kar- The cycle of life and
mic cycle, for he makes his death continues for the jiva
own choices.There are two but not for the atman. The
types of karma: the first, jiva has a choice — either
sakaam karma is carried out it can establish itself in the
with a desire for fruit and atman, or it can continue
it binds us to the result. to struggle in the cycle of
The second, nishkaama kar- birth and death. ■
ma, is performed with at- Send your questions to
mabhava; such actions don’t st.editorial@timesgroup.com
bind us but take us to with subject line:
moksha, liberation. Even at Ask Surakshit
the time of death, atman is and state your age

C P S international ¦ ¦
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`Islamic teachings on Fake News'
10 TIMES GLOBAL * SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU
APRIL 26, 2020

US trains guns on Beijing amid calls WHO warns against

‘immunity passports’ as
OTHER STORIES
China sends docs

for ‘pandemic tariff’ on China goods global toll now 2,00,000+

AFP
to check Kim’s
health: Report
Beijing: China has dispatched

Trump Holds Shortest Press Meet After Disinfectant Gaffe As Some States Reopen
T
he WHO warned on Sa- a team to North Korea inclu-
turday that recovering fr- ding medical experts to advise
om coronavirus may not on Kim Jong-un, according to
S Jaishankar earlier in the we- protect people from reinfection three people familiar with the
Chidanand.Rajghatta
@timesgroup.com PIO first in US to ek, has said US will be working as the death toll from the pande- situation. The trip by the Chi-

Washington: US lawmakers,
politicians, and officials are
training their guns on China,
with some of them wanting to
send Beijing a bill for unleash-
ing a worldwide pandemic that
has cost Washington more th-
an 26 million jobs and trillions
of dollars in relief spending.
Anger in political circles,
particularly in the Republican
Party, has manifested itself in
legislative proposals seeking
to allow US citizens to sue Chi-
na in American courts for the
pandemic, calling for sanc-
tions on Chinese officials, and
in the most extreme suggesti-
on, defaulting on the $1trillion-
plus US debt to China.
Former US ambassador to
the UN, Indian-American Nik-
ki Haley, widely seen as a pro-
spective last-minute vice-pres-
idential nominee for Trump’s
second term, is among those
pressing for action against
Beijing. “China’s Communist
government needs to be held
accountable for their role in ly-
ing about the coronavirus pan-
Asia Watch
4,000 Lanka navy
men quarantined
after 60 test +ve
N early 4,000 Sri Lankan
Navy personnel and their
families have been quaran-
tined at a major naval facility
after 60 Covid-19 cases were
confirmed in two days. The
move came as 30 Navy pers-
onnel tested positive for the
Covid-19 virus each on Friday
and Saturday at the country’s
Welisara Naval camp, the st-
ate-run Daily News reported.
Following this, Sri Lanka
reimposed a countrywide
24-hour curfew. Sri Lanka
partially lifted a monthlong
curfew on Monday during
daytime hours in more than
two thirds of the country.
The Indian Ocean island
nation has confirmed 420
cases of the virus, including
seven deaths, and has
ramped up testing. AGENCIES
demic, and the US Congress
needs to respond — now,” Ha-
ley said in a ‘STOP Communist
China’ petition that received
rousing endorsement in Re-
publican circles this week.
Some US lawmakers want
to go even further. In a precipi-
tate suggestion, Senator Lind-
sey Graham, who has Presi-
dent Trump’s ear, called for
cancelling the more than $1tril-
Cruise fiasco 2.0?
148 infected on
ship off Japan
N early 150 cases of
coronavirus infection
have been confirmed
among crew members of an
Italian cruise ship docked in
Japan after officials finished
testing everyone, an official
said on Saturday. The offi-
cial said 57 more crew had
tested positive, bringing the
total infections on the Costa
Atlantica to 148, roughly one
quarter of the ship’s 623
crew members. The episode
has captured the attention
of Japan’s government, after
a similar incident earlier this
year when 700 people tested
positive on the Diamond
Princess. The cluster on the
ship was at one point the
largest concentration of
virus cases outside of
mainland China. REUTERS
be charged with
hoarding of PPE
A 45-year-old Indian-origin
man has become the first
person to face criminal charges
in the US under the country’s
Defence Production Act for
allegedly hoarding the scarce
personal protective equipment
and selling it at huge markups,
authorities said. Amardeep
Singh stockpiled tonnes of
respirators, surgical gowns and
other PPE at a Long Island
warehouse and sold it online at
“unconscionably excessive
prices”, prosecutors said. PTI
lion in US treasury securities nations — holds about $160 bil-
that China holds. Some law- lion in US treasury bonds.
makers have called for a “pan- President Trump has not
demic tariff” on Chinese goods. revealed his mind about the
Experts have warned that any growing pressure from the Re-
such default will derail the publican rank and file to get
world financial system based tough with Beijing. But his
on trust in US treasury bonds cabinet principals, notably
underwritten by the US gov- secretary of state Mike Pom-
ernment’s promise of repay- peo, have channelled public
ment. India — among countries mistrust. Pompeo, who spoke
such as Japan and many Gulf with his Indian counterpart
TRACKING OUTBREAK
Countries Infected Death
185
United States 924,576 52,782 countries/
Spain 223,759 22,902 regions hit
Italy 195,351 26,384
2,865,938+
France 159,952 22,279 infected globally
Germany 155,418 5,805
United Kingdom 149,554 20,380
200,698+
have died
Turkey 107,773 2,706
Iran 89,328 5,650 810,327+
have recovered
China 83,901 4,636
74,588 681
Source: Johns Hopkins
Russia University
with other countries “to make
sure they understand the virus
originated in Wuhan, China,
and that the Chinese govern-
ment knew about this certain-
ly by December of 2019”.
On Friday, Trump held his
shortest ever White House
briefing on coronavirus, wind-
ing it down after only about 25
minutes without taking ques-
tion after the previous day’s
fiasco where he mused about
injecting disinfectants into the
human body to kill coronavi-
rus. There have been discus-
sions within the White House
about changing the format of
the briefings to curtail the pres-
ident’s role, four White House
officials told Associated Press.
Meanwhile, US virus toll
neared 53,000 on Saturday. De-
spite this, several states began
re-opening for business, re-
sponding to a public frustrated
by loss of employment. Beach-
es in Florida and California
were particularly crowded,
with people apparently noting
studies showing the coronavi-
rus does poorly in sunlight.
Row in UK over
composition of
Labour group to
study virus impact
London: UK’s Labour Party on
Friday hosted a digital round-
table for the launch of a review
into why coronavirus is dispro-
portionately impacting people
from black, Asian and minority
ethnic backgrounds in Britain.
However, some Hindu groups
have accused the party of exc-
luding members of the comm-
unity, reports Naomi Canton.
Labour chief Keith Starmer
held the meeting with represen-
tatives from Muslim Council of
Britain, Operation Black Vote,
Sikh Federation (UK), and Je-
wish Medical Association. The
Hindu Forum of Britain and
Hindu Council UK told TOI that
their members were not invited.
“Many Hindus doctors work
in the NHS. We were hoping th-
ings would change under Keith
Starmer, but alas...,” Anil Bha-
not of Hindu Council UK said.
mic crossed 2,00,000 worldwide.
“There is currently no ev-
idence that people who have re-
covered from Covid-19 and have
antibodies are protected from a
second infection,” it said.
The warning came as some
governments study measures
such as “immunity passports”
or documents for those who ha-
ve recovered as one way to get
people back to work, in an effort
to begin easing lockdown curbs
and stem the economic fallout.
Chile said last week it would be-
gin handing out “health pas-
sports” to people deemed to ha-
ve recovered. Canada and Italy,
too, have been considering a si-
milar step. In the US, scientists
are working around the clock in
shifts to compare at least 14 anti-
body tests in the market.
Most studies have shown
that people who have recovered
from infection have antibodies,
WHO said. However, some of
them have very low levels of ne-
utralising antibodies in their
blood, “suggesting that cellular
immunity may also be critical
for recovery”, it added. AGENCIES
AROUND THE WORLD
Restrictions on crowds due to the pandemic meant that the packed
dawn services for the Anzac Day memorial in Australia and New
Zealand were not held. Instead people held candles in their driveways
and livestreamed services. The holiday commemorates members of
Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who died during WWI
107-year-old who
survived Spanish
flu beats Covid
A 107-year-old Spanish wo-
man has survived two pa-
ndemics, Olive Press, a Spain-
based English daily, has repor-
ted. Ana del Valle was just a
RISKY EXPERIMENT: Italy and
Chile are considering to provide
‘immunity passports’ to get those
who have recovered back to work
China’s 3rd vaccine
in phase 2 of trials
C hina has approved its third
vaccine for the second ph-
ase of clinical trials as it reported
12 new Covid-19 cases, taking the
number of infections in the cou-
ntry to 82,816. An “inactivated”
vaccine developed by Wuhan
Institute of Biological Products
under the China National Phar-
maceutical Group (Sinopharm)
and the Wuhan Institute of Viro-
logy has been tested on 96 peo-
ple in the first phase. The vaccine
has shown good safety results,
said Sinopharm. “It may take ab-
out a year to complete the trials
before reaching the conclusion
on its safety and efficacy,” PTI
child, when in 1918 she contrac-
ted, and recovered from the
Spanish flu. Now, 102 years
later, she has beaten the coron-
avirus to the joy of her family.
Valle resides at a nursing home
in Alcala del Valle, where she
contracted the virus along with
60 other residents. She was
discharged a few days ago.
nese doctors and officials co-
mes amid conflicting reports
about Kim’s health. A train
possibly belonging to Kim was
spotted this week at a resort
town, according to satellite
images reviewed by a US-based
North Korea monitoring pro-
ject. “The train’s presence does
not prove Kim’s whereabouts
or indicate anything about his
health but it does lend weight to
reports that Kim is staying at
an elite area,” it said. AGENCIES
PIO lawyer to step
down from top
Dem Party post
Washington: Seema Nanda
has announced her decision to
step down as the
CEO of the De-
mocratic Natio-
nal Committee,
the top admini-
strative position
Seema Nanda in the main Op-
position party,
ahead of the presidential elec-
tions in November. Nanda, 48,
became the first Indian-Ame-
rican to be appointed as the
CEO of the Democratic Natio-
nal Committee in June, 2018.
She did not give reasons for lea-
ving the top position in the
party. Washington Post repor-
ted that Nanda’s sudden exit
from the DNC was part of the ef-
fort of the former US vice-presi-
dent Joe Biden who is the pre-
sumptive presidential nominee
of the Democratic Party. PTI
Pak navy test-fires
anti-ship missiles
Islamabad: The Pakistan na-
vy on Saturday successfully
test-fired a series of anti-ship
missiles in the North Arabian
Sea, an official said. The missi-
les were fired from surface
ships, fixed and rotary-wing
aircraft, the navy’s spokesman
Rear Admiral Arshid Javed sa-
id. “The anti-ship missiles we-
re fired at the sea level by wars-
hips and aircraft,” he said. The
demonstration is a testament
to the Pakistan’s operational
capability, the official said. PTI

Quarantine pathshala: People are At hotspots, 3 non-BJP states

learning new skills in lockdown
From learning exotic dishes
to foreign languages, some
We sped things up and within
two weeks of the launch found
favour extending lockdown
 Continued from P 1

people are making the most

500 subscribers for our online
video courses, primarily phys-
M
ical training followed by dee-
of being stuck at home jaying, tattooing, make-up and
hair-styling. People are sign-
UP looks at 15L jobs for returning workers
aharahstra, which
has the highest num- Continued from page 1 and Chhattisgarh to take set off for their native state on
ber of Covid-19 posi- back 3.5 lakh migrants from 98 buses arranged by the

A
Mohua Das & Rupali Mukherjee | TNN ing up because they need to tive cases in the country, also round 100 Sikh pilgrims these states stuck in Maha- Shivraj Singh Chouhan gov-
stay productively engaged,” decided not to implement the stranded at Takht Sri rashtra. Mehta said Maha- ernment. Chouhan said mi-

A
dash of yearning, a pinch of says Juneja. home ministry’s order of Hazur Sahib in Maha- rashtra was willing to ferry grant workers stranded in
social media, and a smattering Cultural philanthropy plat- opening standalone or neigh- rashtra's Nanded left for their migrants to the borders of Rajasthan had also started
of blank spots on the calendar forms like Avid Learning and bourhood shops. home states of Punjab, Ha- their states and hand them coming back.
has turned Hem Malkani, the Events and Entertainment The Yogi Adityanath gov- ryana and New Delhi after a over. The Himachal Pradesh In UP, CM Yogi Aditya-
man with an omelette-and-Maggi-only Management Association ernment in Uttar Pradesh, push from Punjab CM Ama- and Haryana governments, nath set up a committee and
repertoire, into a quarantine-taught (EEMA) have learning cam- too, wants to wait before rinder Singh and a nod from too, sent Kashmiri workers directed officials to prepare a
chef who likes to roll up his sleeves, and paigns and ‘knowledge’ webi- opening up shops. “ The gov- Union home minister Amit and those from UP back to plan to create at least 15 lakh
whip up Mediterranean-inspired en- nars on their social media ernment has permitted shops Shah. Chief secretary Ajoy their home states on buses on jobs to provide employment
trees, spicy vegetable curries from the platforms, featuring the likes selling essential goods, like Mehta asked his counter- Saturday. to migrant workers expected
British Raj or immunity-boosting soups of art gallerist Mortimer groceries and medicines, and parts in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, In Gujarat, the first batch to return to the state over the
from scratch. Chatterjee and author Meher 11 kinds of industries to func- Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat of 2,400 labourers from MP next two months.
The marketing professional now Marfatia to tech expert Jas- tion. We will not permit any
delights in his recently discovered spir- preet Bindra. more shops to open up at this Howrah, North 24-Parganas, the view that it may not be pos- minister Naba Kishore
itual relationship with At this point in time when point,” said a senior official. Hooghly, East Midnapore, sible to lift the lockdown com- Das said relaxations should
his kitchen and the SKILLING INDIA: (Above) Father the outdoors seems too far Significantly, Bengal, Od- East Burdwan and Nadia, pletely for some more time as be given in a phased manner
“therapy” involved in and son Hem & Jaivardhan away, people have been pa- isha and Punjab seem to be in government sources said. the state has witnessed three in areas not reporting posi-
pounding garlic or Malkani learn to cook; (left) tiently bringing flapping birds favour of extending the lock- The Mamata Banerjee gov- peaks in the Covid-19 curve in tive cases and containment
whipping batter for Samika Desouza crafts earrings and flowers to life using the down in affected areas after ernment is, however, unlike- the past 40 days. measures should continue in
two hours every day. “I out of cardboard boxes, each ancient Japanese art of paper May 3. Bengal is likely to con- ly to seek a statewide lock- Odisha, too, thinks that vulnerable areas. “The situa-
was missing my moth- one with a theme inspired by folding after CSMVS Museum, tinue with the restrictions in down, sources added. Punjab complete lifting of lockdown tion should be reviewed on
er’s homemade kada the lockdown a premier cultural institution the red zones in Kolkata, CM Amarinder Singh is of is not advisable. State health May 1,”he said.
prashad when I decid- in Mumbai, brought on board
ed to make it myself. theatre appreciation, architect and origami artiste Bobbie

‘Take advantage
Guj death toll 133, second
Didn’t turn out well dance performances, Vijayakkar for an online workshop
and I started scouring culinary innova- last week.
for video tutorials. tions, fashion tips, To keep their travel muscles spry,
Turns out there are stand-up comedy and several adults and kids are flocking of great hatred
highest after M’rashtra
five star chefs handing sustainable living. online to learn a new language — Span-
out cooking skills and
recipes to survive the
Samika Desouza, ish, Mandarin and German — so they
a 24-year-old MBA can gleefully jump into conversations
against China’
quarantine. I seem to student quarantined once foreign travel opens up. A basic Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com
h ave d i s c ove re d a at her home in Mum- language course starting at Rs 4,000, is Continued from page 1 the coronavirus capital of In-
knack for something I bai, was staring at broken into modules of nine hours New Delhi: Amid growing dia. The Maximum City has

didn’t even know I had,” says Malkani.
While Malkani is busy with kitchen
knives and ladles, junior Jaivardhan
is attending an online masterclass on
Bollywood guitaring by Furtados
School of Music, which trained 98
teachers in a week in how to deliver
lessons virtually.
“I plan to entertain my parents
every evening with new songs using
four chord progressions I just picked
up,” adds Malkani’s 14-year-old son,
who has joined the burgeoning ranks
of remote learners.
The Malkanis aren’t alone. When
fate hands you a giant chunk of time
with a “stay at home” war cry and
anxiety about what’s unfolding outside,
spending it on old hobbies or acquiring
new ones could be a calming way to
pass time in social isolation.
For every skill one could ever want
to learn, there is a goldmine of web
courses that have emerged — from city
history, photography, archiving, art,
storytelling, fitness, light technology,
3D mapping and gaming to music and
T
empty cardboard boxes sitting in a cor- criticism of China in the wake hree deaths were re- so far recorded 5,049 cases,
ner of her house when she decided to For every skill one could of the Covid-19 pandemic, road corded in in Rajasthan, nearly double that of second-
put her interest in fashion to good use. and highways minister Nitin two in Andhra Pradesh placed Delhi (2,625). Maha-
She scoured her home for old beads and
ever want to learn, there is Gadkari on Saturday said amd one each in Delhi, Tamil rashtra’s Covid tally crossed
hooks from broken jewellery, wire from a goldmine of web courses there is “great hatred” against Nadu, UP and J&K. Gujarat, 7,000 mark to 7,628 cases, al-
her father’s tool box, and broken egg that have emerged. Many India’s northern neighbour where 256 new infections most equal to the combined
shells to craft earrings out of those old currently and urged industrial were reported, became the tally of the next three states —
cardboard boxes. “The colour and shape have discovered a spiritual entities to take advantage of second Indian state to cross Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan.
of each piece has an accompanying relationship with their new- the opportunity to produce 3,000 cases. Ahmedabad, Covid-19 cases in Bengal
story inspired by our current circum- items for which India is largely which accounts for 65% of to- are also on the rise. The state,
stances,” explained Samika, who has found interests, and learning dependent on China. tal cases in the state, also which has been mired in con-
also found time for a five-week certified has also had a therapeutic “There is a great hatred crossed the 2,000-mark in troversy over the visit by a
course on the management of luxury against China... You must be number of cases. central team to monitor the
and fashion brands. impact on them aware about the Japanese PM Gujarat's death toll is now Covid-19 situation, recorded
Meanwhile, Kunal Roy, an engineer- announcing a package for 133, the second highest after 57 new cases taking its tally to
ing sophomore, has enrolled in courses their industries which want to Maharashtra. 571. Madhya Pradesh, which
on blockchain technology and Six spread over a week. “The idea is to get shift base from China to other Delhi recorded 111 new had witnessed an explosion
Sigma on online learning platforms people started, like a hobby. If it inter- countries. There are similar Covid-19 cases, a slight dip of cases last week, showed
because: “It’s what I always wanted to ests them, they can later opt for an ad- indications from US,” he said from Friday’s 138 cases, tak- another dramatic drop in
learn.” Facebook feeds, too, are full of vanced course which will run for three during a web-based interac- ing its tally to 2,514. With one cases, with just 31 new ones
masterclass ads more than ever. Suraj weeks,” says Alpana Kamdar-Mehta tion with the CEO Club of In- more death, the toll in Delhi ber of new cases at 122, which on Saturday.
Juneja explains why the time was rife who organises IQ, EQ and other fun dia. Calling it an opportunity has risen to 53. At least 38 Co- included 13 cops. With this, Telangana’s Covid-19
for Master Mentors, an online master- workshops. How different is this from for India, he said Indian entre- vid-19 patients in the capital UP’s tally has touched 1,796 graph too took a big dip on
class platform that he co-founded and the online tutorials scattered on the preneurs should strive to at- in ICU or on ventilator sup- and it has confirmed 15 deaths. Saturday, in a marked shift
launched during the lockdown. “We net? “It’s an interactive setting with tract investment from firms port, sources said. With 602 more cases dur- from the last week’s fury. On-
were contemplating on the right time worksheets and a tutor in a live ses- that want to move out of China. Uttar Pradesh registered ing the day, Mumbai further ly seven new positive cases
to begin when the lockdown happened. sion,” explains Mehta. Full report on www.toi.in Saturday’s third-highest num- strengthened its position as were reported.
 TIMES SPORT SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA, BENGALURU | APRIL 26, 2020

ASH BARTY FINDS IT TRICKY TO MAINTAIN HIGH CRICKET SHOULD RESUME ONLY WHEN COVID-19
INTENSITY IN TRAINING DURING SHUTDOWN IS COMPLETELY ERADICATED, FEELS YUVRAJ

‘COACHING
GALLERY
INDIA’S UNDER-19 CRICKET TEAM HEAD COACH AND INDIA ‘A’ BOWLING
COACH PARAS MHAMBREY OFFERS TOI A RARE GLIMPSE INTO THE
Saliva is must, feel MACHINATIONS BEHIND GROOMING PLAYERS FOR THE HIGHEST LEVEL…
B A Raju

Nehra & Harbhajan

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra and
spinner Harbhajan Singh feel that saliva’s
use in shining the ball is a “must”. “The
ball will not swing if you don’t apply sweat
or saliva on the ball. That’s basic necessity
YOUNGSTERS Youngsters are
inspired by what
they see at the top.
Ishant, Bumrah,

MAKES YOU
of swing bowling. The moment ball gets Shami, Umesh,
scuffed up from one side, sweat and saliva Bhuvi… all of them
must be applied on the other side,” Nehra, As a coach, I need to understand a bowl at 140-plus.
who completely shot down the idea of player’s financial, educational and family
using external substances, said. Harb- background. Then I know how to pass on
hajan also agreed that saliva if one has a message, how to work with him.

THINK OUT
already chewed mint, which has sugar in —Paras Mhambrey
it, makes it heavier. But when it comes to
using external substance, he wants to
know what can be the options.

Semifinal loss to NZ still haunts, says

OF THE BOX’
Rahul: Star India batsman KL Rahul said
the heartbreaking World Cup semifinal
loss to New Zealand, after a near-perfect
show in the group stages, “continues to
haunt” him and his teammates. In a chat
show 'The Mind Behind', Rahul said if he
was given a chance to change the result of
any one match in the past, it would be the Ruchir.Mishra@timesgroup.com How different is it to coach under-19 When a person graduates to playing When I was playing, I had only one There shouldn’t be a sword hanging
2019 World Cup semifinal. “It has to be the cricketers compared to coaching a Ranji side? for the country, he should already India ‘A’ tour in my whole career. Now, over a player’s neck saying, ‘I have
World Cup semifinal. I think most of us are Nagpur: Only 47, former India medium- In a Ranji side, once you have the have experience of playing in you have so many. Credit should go to just one or two opportunities and if I
still not over that loss, it is still haunts us pacer Paras Mhambrey has already seen squad you know the 15-20 guys you have Australia, SA, Eng, New Zealand etc. BCCI, it’s not cheap. don’t perform, it is over for me.’
sometimes,” he said. “I can't imagine what 17 seasons as a top-flight coach. When to work with. You get more time. With
the senior players must have felt but you National Cricket Academy director Ra- U-19 or India ‘A’, time is an issue. It’s spending time with these kids over dinner Absolutely. From our (NCA) side, we country, he should already have experi-
know in a World Cup it just becomes even hul Dravid was India ‘A’ and U-19 coach about how many changes you want to or breakfast and that helps me to coach remain in touch. Our trainer Anand ence of playing in Australia, South Af-
harder knowing that we played so well in back in 2015-16, he had offered the bowl- introduce in a two or three-week period. them well. It’s not one solution for all Datey shares schedules, monitors the rica, England, New Zealand etc. This
the entire tournament. I still wake up to ing-coach role to the former Mumbai It makes you think out of the box. Every Fitness awareness among the younger progress of each player. We have an app whole U-19 and ‘A’ structure is the brain-
that nightmare sometimes.” player. The India U-19 team reached two years, there will be a different batch. generation has increased … to monitor and collect as much data as child of Rahul Dravid. When I was play-
three World Cup finals with Mhambrey Isn’t the IPL more of an attraction for kids? Fitness is an integral part of Indian possible. Often, Datey will raise the red ing, I had only one India ‘A’ tour in my
Pak former skipper Sana Mir retires: around, winning the crown in 2018. Now The focus is on shorter formats glob- cricket culture now. The youngsters see flag if a player has been over-bowled at whole career. Now, you have so many.
Former Pakistan women’s captain Sana the head coach of the U-19 nation team ally. IPL is a big thing and with the money how the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Shar- the state level. Credit should go to BCCI, it’s not cheap.
Mir announced her retirement from in- and also an integral part of the India ‘A’ also comes exposure. That’s a challenge ma and Ravindra Jadeja all work hard There are so many young pacers bowling It’s a challenge to organize these tours…
ternational cricket on Saturday. The setup, Mhambrey spoke to TOI about the and an opportunity for coaches. I enjoy on their fitness drills. The Indian team’s above the 140-kmph mark… sometimes other boards don’t have
34-year-old helmed the team that took way forward for Indian cricket. Excerpts interacting with these kids, trying to un- fitness culture has rubbed down on the This is due to enhanced fitness and enough money so BCCI bears the costs.
home gold from the 2010 and 2014 Asian from an interview… derstand where they are coming from. As junior and domestic level as well. Young- proper biomechanics. You don’t see Such gestures often go unrecognized.
Games. Sana played 226 international a coach, I need to understand a player’s sters understand that if you have the physios and trainers on the ground but The frontline Indian pace attack is now among
matches since her 2005 debut. She is one There’s increasing focus on the U-19 World Cup … financial, educational and family back- fitness, it enhances your skills. Most a lot of work goes on behind the scenes, the best in the world. But what about the
of only nine women cricketers to have The U-19 World Cup is not the only ground. Then I know how to pass on a youngsters who come to us these days in the off-season too. Fitness is the prime bench strength?
taken 100 wickets and scored 1,000 runs in thing. Since that event is held every two message, how to work with him. The most are physically very strong. reason, and also the biomechanics work I am happy. There a lot of guys from
ODI matches. She also led Pakistan to two years, some of the kids don’t meet the important thing is the trust factor. I like What changes would you like to see in terms we do to make sure technique is not an India ‘A’ who went on to player for the
ODI and five T20 World Cups. But early this age criteria. There shouldn’t be a sword of coordination and communication between issue. I think this combination is work- country like Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep
year selectors dropped her from the squad hanging on a player’s neck saying, ‘I have NCA and state associations? ing well. You need to monitor these kids Saini, Shardul Thakur. .
for the T20 World Cup in Australia, hinting just one or two opportunities and if I I would like to see better coordination closely for a couple of years. Only once How do you spot new talent?
that her career was nearing an end. don’t perform, it over for me’. The play- so that the cricketers remain fit and can they are 23-24, they become aware of I watch a lot of first-class cricket live.
ers put in years of hard work so they play when it matters most. Once players what they need to do. They are also in- I also watch Ranji Trophy matches on
No champions as Dutch League ends can’t be judged on one or two innings. are back with their state teams, they are spired by what they see at the top. Ishant, TV. I travel to watch a particular bowler
season: The Dutch football federation The challenge is more at the first- controlled by their state coaches. The chal- Bumrah, Shami, Umesh, Bhuvi…all of if he catches my fancy. Seeing him in ac-
(KNVB) called an end to the 2019-20 sea- class level. The happiest thing for us is lenge is to have as much control as we can. them bowl at 140-plus. tion gives me a better idea of what he
son on Friday, as the Eredivisie became when some of these players represent Whether this is right or wrong, we will What are the things you look at before fast can do in a match scenario. Largely there
the first top European league called off the country. From the last group, it was have to look into that. With better control, tracking a player into the national side? is communication between NCA and
due to the coronavirus pandemic. No team Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill. From we can monitor a player’s workload as we That’s where the India ‘A’ structure state associations about exciting talents.
will be declared champions after Ajax and the 2016 batch, Rishabh (Pant), Khaleel don’t want a talent to miss out due to in- comes in. We do a lot of away tours so What impact has Rahul Dravid made?
AZ Alkmaar were left level on points at the (Ahmed), Washington (Sundar) have all jury. You don’t want a kid to be over-bowled they are aware of the conditions. Of He restructured the U-19 and India ‘A’
top of the table with nine games still to played for India, while Ishan (Kishan) and miss out on a crucial year. course, players by then know home con- systems. He felt had he got all these facili-
play. Ajax, above AZ on goal difference, and Avesh (Khan) are part of India ‘A’. ‘IPL IS A BIG THING’: Shikhar Dhawan (left) Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi are ditions in and out. The challenge is when ties and guidance, he could have extended
will qualify automatically for next sea- Many are integral parts of state teams. with Paras Mhambrey for MI back in 2010 prime examples… a person graduates to playing for the his career by a couple of years.
son's Champions League group stage,
according to the KNVB, which will await a
definitive verdict from UEFA on May 25. AZ
will likely enter the competition's qualify-
ing rounds, with Feyenoord, PSV Eind-
hoven and Willem II set to compete in the
Europa League based on the standings.
Australia looking at travel After Rio, people
told me I had final
AAI, IOA to help
Clubs will not splurge on transfers,
says Woodward: Manchester United
chief executive Ed Woodward says clubs
exemptions for India tour
Melbourne: The Australian
Getty Images
phobia: Sindhu
New Delhi: Ace shuttler PV Sindhu, who had
ailing Limba Ram
TIMES NEWS NETWORK (JLN) stadium here for more
will not spend "hundreds of millions" government might make created history by becoming the first Indian to than a year.
when signing new players in the transfer travel exemptions for the In- win gold medal at the World Championships New Delhi: Archery Associ- TOI has learnt that a se-
window as they will be mindful of the dian team's tour Down Under last year, has revealed that ation of India (AAI) and Indi- nior vice-president and a
financial impact of the pandemic. “It later this year to save the she didn’t want people to an Olympic Association vice-president of the IOA en-
would be a challenging times and may not cricket board from losing a call her “silver Sindhu” (IOA) have quired about Limba’s health
be business as usual for clubs when they staggering 300 million Aus- and that’s why she was des- come for- on Saturday morning and of-
look for new recruits. We need visibility of tralian dollars in the wake of perate to clinch the top ward to help fered to help him with a doc-
the impact across the whole industry, COVID-9 pandemic. honours in Basel. ailing three- tor’s visit and a private lab
including timings of the transfer window Cricket Australia is under Sindhu, who had al- time Olym- technician to administer
and the wider financial picture, before we huge financial pressure due ready won two silver and pian archer him the injections. Later, the
can talk about a return to normality," to global lockdown and has two bronze medals at the Limba Ram, officials got in touch with
Woodward said in a United fans forum. laid off 80 percent of its staff. event, defeated her neme- who is struggling to continue Limba’s treating doctor, De-
India's four-Test tour in De- sis Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in the summit his treatment for a neuro-de- bashish Choudhary, of the
Dingko Singh airlifted to Delhi for cember-January could pro- clash that lasted just 38 minutes on August 26 generative condition due to GB Pant hospital here to
treatment: Asian Games Gold Medallist vide a relief to the struggling last year. In the Rio Olympics, Sindhu went the ongoing nationwide lock- check on him.
Dingko Singh was on Saturday flown in body. As of now, Australia's down 21-19, 12-21, 15-21 to Spain’s Carolina Ma- down. Help arrived for Lim- AAI, too, has approached
from Imphal to Delhi by SpiceJet’s air borders are sealed till Sep- received highly encouraging could have expected without rin in the final and had to contain with the sil- ba, 47, after TOI exclusively the sports ministry to facili-
ambulance service for his liver cancer tember 30 but their could be news about their outlook, at being able to welcome India reported in its edition dated tate Limba’s treatment and
treatment. The airline provided the air least as far as the lucrative for a series of Test and limit- arrange a doctor for him at
ambulance service free of charge to the TEST CRICKET India tour is concerned,” the ed overs matches due to pull
BADMINTON TIMES IMPACT the SAI hostel. According to
Padma awardee. The boxer along with his an extension of travel sanc- report stated. the organisation out of the ver medal. “After the 2016 Olympics, I had six to April 24 that Limba has de- AAI, it has received assur-
wife flew from Imphal. The 41-year-old tions. According to a report in Cricket Australia was ex- low point of its four-year rev- seven silver medals. People started telling me veloped major swelling in ance from the ministry that
former boxer reached the capital on 'ESPNCricinfo',“internation- pecting revenue of AUD 500 enue cycle,” the report stated. that ‘you have a final phobia’,” Sindhu told In- both his legs as injections to the archer will be provided
Saturday evening (6:15pm) and headed to al exemptions to allow an In- million from this financial Australia Prime Minister dian women cricketers Smriti Mandhana and treat his neurological illness with immediate medical as-
the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences. dia touring party to arrive in cycle, primarily from broad- Scott Morrison on Friday had Jemimah Rodrigues on “Double Trouble”. could not be administered to sistance. “I informed the
Australia next summer would cast rights. Even if spectators said that his government is “At the recent World Championships, I was him for past one month due AAI president Arjun Munda
be seriously considered by are not allowed and cricket looking at all option as far as in the final again. I already had two bronze and to the lockdown. immediately about his con-
the federal government in the becomes a TV only event, resumption of sporting activ- two silver...and I was like I have to win this Limba has been diag- dition. The minister is said
Premier League gearing event of wider travel bans,
strongly suggesting that
they happen to lose AUD 50
million. But if India fail to
ities is concerned. “What is a
safe way to be able to do that,
match. “So, I just wanted to give my 100 per
cent. I didn’t want people to say ‘silver Sindhu’.
nosed with Neurocysticer-
cosis condition, with re-
to have spoken to senior peo-
ple in the sports ministry.
up for June 8 start? Cricket Australia will be able
to avoid losing up to AUD 300
tour, the repercussions will
be of gigantic proportions.
and to get as much consisten-
cy as we possibly can across
At some point of time that gets into your mind
and I told myself before the final ‘No, come on. I
ports indicating he has
worms in his brain which
The trainee archers staying
at the hostel are already
London: The English Premier League are million in revenue in the “Such a scenario (only live all the states and territories,” need to just give my 100 per cent no matter what are blocking his nerves slow- tending to him and taking
eyeing a resumption of the season on June wake of the coronavirus pan- TV coverage) would likely Morrison said. “That was and win this,” she added. The Rio Olympic sil- ly. Injections are required to care of Limba. AAI would
8, behind closed doors due to the demic.” The website also re- leave CA with a hole of strongly supported today by ver medallist also said that beating the then strengthen the functioning like to assure everyone that
coronavirus pandemic, and reaching a ported that CA has received a around AUD 50 million in its all the states and territories, reigning Olympic champion Li Xuerui in 2012 of his nerve system. He and Limba’s health is the federa-
climax on July 27, according to The Times. positive response from its annual revenue of nearly having something along had been a big turning point in her career. She his wife Merian Jenny are tion’s top priority,” AAI sec-
The paper claims football chiefs, along government. “...The govern- AUD 500 million, but nowhere those lines they would find had defeated Li 21-19, 9-21, 21-16 at the China staying at the residential retary general Pramod
with other sports governing bodies, have ing body is understood to have near the sort of blow they very helpful.” AGENCIES Masters in September that year. AGENCIES hostel of Jawaharlal Nehru Chandurkar told TOI.
been holding talks with the British
government about when they can resume

‘We don’t have enough food at home’ AIU bans runner

and at only "approved grounds". The
Premier League has 92 games remaining
since it suspended the season on March 13
with Liverpool agonisingly close to their first
ever EPL title.
The Times says the EPL bosses shared
their idea 'Project Restart' with the
Struggling To Make
Ends Meet, Women’s
“I have worked really
hard to make the
of the chief minister over the past
few days, but did not get any re-
sponse,” added the 21-year-old,
Jhuma for 4 years
shareholders last week. The matches would who resides in West Delhi’s Shak- New Delhi: Middle distance meet. The World Anti-Doping
country proud. But
be played behind closed doors -- a maximum
of 400 people would be permitted to attend
Captain Nasreen Had today, my family is
urpur. While Nasreen is contract-
ed by the Airports Authority of In-
runner Jhuma Khatun has
been banned for four years
Agency (WADA) then decid-
ed to test the sample of Kha-
including media though only if they tested
negative for the virus -- and at selected
Petitioned Delhi CM struggling during the dia, the Rs 26,000 she brought in by the Athletics Integrity tun at its Montreal Laborato-
lockdown. Things are so over the past few months have al- Unit for testing positive for a ry in Canada and it returned
stadia to limit stretching the limited Dhananjay.Roy@timesgroup.com ready been used up. “I have a one- banned substance -- steroid -- positive for dehydrochloro-
resources of the medical services. Extra bad that we don’t have year contract with AAI and the ex- in a nearly two-year-old dop- methyl testosterone. Khatun
changing facilities would be introduced to Mumbai: Covid-19 has left the enough food at home” tension will depend on my ap- ing case which the NDTL results from June 29, 2018 to
ensure social distancing measures were in world united in misery, but it’s praisal. I earn a salary of Rs had failed to detect. November 21, 2018 will now be
place whilst players would be required to those with limited means of liveli- lockdown. Things are so bad that 26,000,” said the youngster, whose annulled. Dope samples of
turn up for training individually and already hood that are bearing the full im- we don’t have enough food at father Mohammad Gafoor, used to DOPING other four Indians, including
in their kit. They have also suggested August pact of the pandemic. this difficult phase. Things had home,” Nasreen had told TOI on sell steel utensils on the streets The 31-year-old Khatun's 2017 Asian champion quar-
22 as the date for the start of the 2020/21 come to such a pass that the 21- Friday, before the Kho-Kho Feder- prior to the announcement of the dope sample collected during termiler Nirmala Sheoran,
campaign. AGENCIES KHO-KHO year-old had petitioned the chief ation of India (KKFI) came to her national lockdown on March 25. the National Inter-State returned negative at NDTL
It was only in December last minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejri- rescue, donating Rs 1 lakh. “My father has been unable to Championships in June 2018 but found positive when test-
year that she led the Indian wom- wal, without much help, after her “I am really happy with the work for over a month now. While returned negative when it ed in Montreal. WADA re-
REGD. NO. CPMG/KA/BG-GPO-31/2003-05, RNI NO. 50523/91. Published for the
proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by R J Prakashan at 40/1, S&B Towers, en’s kho-kho team to the gold med- 13-member household began run- KKFI’s decision to support me. It there has been no income, the was tested by the National ferred Khatun's results man-
M.G. Road, Bengaluru - 560 001 (Phones: Office: EPABX - 080-42200000, Editorial:
080- 42200209 / 42200211, Fax : 080-42200100, Editorial Fax: 42200202) and printed al at the South Asian Games in ning out of ration. “I have worked has lifted my morale. This is some- basic expenses have not stopped. Dope Testing Laboratory agement to the AIU which no-
by him at Fourth Estate Ltd at No.9/10/11-A, 4th Main, Bommasandra Industrial Area,
Hosur Road, Bengaluru 560 099 (Ph : 080-42200500). Regd office: Dr. D.N. Road, Kathmandu, but until Friday eve- really hard to make the country thing that the government should They need to be taken care of, but (NDTL) here. Khatun had tified Khatun of the charges
Mumbai - 400 001. Editor (Bengaluru Market): Asha Kiran Rai- responsible for
selection of news under PRB Act. © All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in ning, Nasreen, the team’s star div- proud in kho-kho. But today, my have done,” a relieved Nasreen today, even that has become a won a bronze each in 1500m and provisionally suspended
part without written permission is prohibited.
NO. 15 VOL 29 er, was struggling to get through family is struggling during the said. “I tried to draw the attention problem,” she added. and 5000m in that Guwahati her in November 2018. PTI
12 BANGALORE TIMES, THE TIMES OF INDIA
Aries
Mercury moves into your sign
filling up your intellect and mind
with bright ideas that will help
you quite a lot in the weeks to
come, if you just note them down
to execute them later. As Venus
remains in your second house
for long, you shall be more ex-
pressive and will also be spend-
ing more time on reshaping fi-
nancial priorities and budgets
for your family’s future. Combi-
nation of the Sun and Mercury
in your sign gives you the nec-
essary energy and means to deal
with any situation, including ex-
cellent lockdown management
skills and how to reshape your
life amidst changing priorities.
Taurus
Venus’ presence in your signs
for months has a specific mis-
sion, not only to look at health
and fitness issues, but also to
improve your overall career
imbalances, which may have
happened in the past few
years. You can be more
charming and friendly, mak-
ing you more attractive. Lots
of changes are in order. At
the moment, all of us are sub-
ject to conditions that will
knock down anything that is
rooted in falsehood. You are
about to see if what you have
created is worthy enough to
stand the test of time. The
money issue is huge. Don’t
make it too important.
Gemini
Discretion is the better part of
valour. Don’t get caught up in an
endless series of misunder-
standings. Wait for better tim-
ing to hold important or serious
discussions. You don’t have to
put your foot in your mouth.
When challenged with criticism,
it might be wise to keep your
mouth shut, do what you are re-
ENGINEERING | MANAGEMENT | MEDIA | LAW
SUDOKU CHALLENGE
Level: Medium
SCRAMBLE
GLEEI
AEINN
IKUDNN
IIWBGG
Everything that has a ____ comes to an __.
— Quintilian (9,.,3)
BEETLE BAILEY
GARFIELD
STAR BIRTHDAY
Taurus: JAMIE DORNAN
(May 1, 1982)
quired to do, but nothing more.
A hard-hearted approach can
block relationships. Put off mak-
ing crucial partnership deci-
sions. Indiscretions and mis-
takes made now could be re-
vealed and cause upsets in the
very near future.
Cancer
You have a right to form your
own opinion, but not the right
to treat them as facts. If your
imagination runs wild in the
coming week, it could trigger a
misunderstanding. There is a
saddle you need to get back on
this week. Erase the fear that
prevents you from trying some-
thing that caused pain in the past
or one that makes you appre-
hensive about facing someone
who deserves an apology. It
might be best to sit on your
hands and avoid meddling with
things for a few days.
Leo
With regards to your personal
matters, don’t cling too hard to
feeling as sure as you do now,
and at the same time not taking
this to mean that you’re mis-
taken. Part of the ongoing les-
son for you is to let change hap-
pen, even if the end result is to
HOW TO PLAY
Fill in the grid
so that every
horizontal row,
every vertical
column and
every 3x3 box
contains the
digits 1-9,
without
repeating the
numbers in
the same row,
column or
box.You can’t
change the
digits already
given in the
grid. Every
puzzle has
one solution.
Rearrange the letters in
the four word jumbles, one
letter to each square/circle,
to make four ordinary words
HOW TO PLAY
Now arrange the letters in
the circles to form the
answer to the riddle or to
fill in the missing word as
indicated
FinOlex
FORTUNE
finolexpipes.com 1 1800
For appo ntments ma at
L or sms on 9822042295.
recommit to what you’ve known
all along. Modestly wait it all out,
without the need to prove it right
or wrong. Actually, you’re at the
beginning of the second part of
the beginning. You’ve already
started, but you haven’t gotten
far enough to see results that will
help you reflect having gotten
past the beginning, but you’ve
done something.
Virgo
Silence is golden. Wait out a
temporary period of ennui and
avoid initiating anything of
great importance. Remember
that although silence can be
misinterpreted, it’s never mis-
quoted. Negativity plants seeds
of discontent. Rather than al-
lowing doubts and despair to
grow, consider ways to develop
a state of health and abun-
dance. To remain on top of
your bills, duties and respon-
sibilities, avoid taking on any-
thing new.
Libra
Pretending that logic has a long-
standing reputation for serving
you well won’t serve you well
this week. The less you speak
and the more you create, the bet-
LOOP THE LOOP
Rules
■ Connect adjacent dots with vertical or horizontal
lines, creating a single loop (Fig A).
■ Crossovers or branches are not allowed
(As shown by dotted lines in Fig B).
■ Numbers in the puzzle indicate the number of
lines that should surround it, while empty cells may
be surrounded by
any number of
lines.
■ You can’t draw
lines around
zeroes.
■ Each puzzle has
just one unique
solution.
How to begin:
Example (Fig A) —
Begin with the zero
next to 3. Since no
lines can be drawn
around zero, mark
crosses around it,
as shown. Now
there is a cross in
one space around
3. So we know the three lines of 3 can only be drawn in the remaining three
spaces. Next, these lines can only be extended in one direction each. Continue,
using the same logic.
Hints: Keep eliminating possibilities by marking crosses in spaces
between dots where a line isn’t possible, i.e., if you have already
completed required lines or where a line extension may create a
branch or cause a deadend (Fig B)
SPELLATHON
F 06-good 07-outstanding
L R
M letter may be used once only. Each
U O
O English Dictionary is used as reference.
LEISURE / BANGALORE TIMES SUNDAY 26 APRIL 2020 I ADVERTORIAL, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
restricted to certain lim- attention to actions that could
its will require you to
{ be misinterpreted.
DID YOU avasana (the corpse pose)
S
,-
e
change your pace or your allows your body to de-
Pisces
KNOW
tune. Some of you find it stress and return to its
..
Serious matters could occupy
hard to believe that there’s natural state as a human being, and
your mind. Perhaps, you are in
such a thing as a new not a human doing. Your body also
n
the mood to be stricter and more
horizon. Others are thank-
Anupam V Kapil
ing god that the tide is unyielding than usual. It might
Savasana is a
pose of ultimate
cements the effects of your yoga
practice, processing and remem-
be best to sleep on decisions for
3466 turning.
relaxation bering the information it needs.
a few days until things fall in
anupamvkapil@gma il.com Aquarius place. Something has blown the
Impulsive leaps forward lid off of whatever has blocked
may actually set you back. your ability to change. Feeling EVENTS
Appearances may be de-
ter off everyone will be. You can- overwhelmed could be part of
ceptive and you may not be con-
not control other people or their the deal. If that’s the case, don’t BANGALORE TIMES HOME
centrating on the right thing.
behaviour, and if and when you get too far ahead of yourself. Re- CONCERTS:
Hold off on crucial changes and
do, you will get a harsh reminder alise that whatever it is that ap- Get set for an evening of
don’t take important decisions.
of all that you cannot control in pears to be too much will take evergreen Kannada classics,
There is a time for being ahead
your life. Mercury has just care of itself if you stop fretting as actor-singer Sunil Raoh
and a time for being behind; a
crossed into the sixth house, it over it and remember that every- presents a mixtape of his
time for being in motion and a
can complicate matters and and thing comes together in its own favourite Kannada hits. Log
make it harder for you to take time for being at rest. In the good time. on to Bangalore Times’
decisions. week ahead, you will need to pay Facebook page —
Scorpio https:\\www.facebook.com\
Bangalore TimesOfficial
Crystal clear intentions may be
subjected to misdirection. Wait
until next week to make dreams
#CORONASUTRA — at 5 pm. Sunil Raoh
a reality. Darkness defines the
light. You can almost be grate-
The best of locked-down creativity YOGA
Akshar Yoga and Times Foundation present ‘Yoga at home’ — an
ful for the problems that arise in
exclusive, free yoga session. The session will take place every day in
the coming week as they will
different time slots — 8 am to 9.30 am and 5 pm to 6.30 pm. This
serve to make you feel grateful
month-long online session includes asanas, pranayama, meditation,
for the support and help you
as well as Q&As. To join, click on the link https://www.facebook.com/
have. You will see what is best
events/597912430798532/. For more details, call
for you. What you’re unwilling
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to live with has been your con-
MEETING
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Think about that. And think
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about how long it takes for any
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DEAR READERS
Sagittarius REACH OUT TO US
Tactics must change when the Mail us at: bangalore.times@timesgroup.com
tides turn. This can be a good You can follow us on — Twitter: @bangaloretimes1;
week to ask for forgiveness and Facebook: @BangaloreTimesOfficial; Instagram:
repair relationships.If you share @bangalore_times
with others,you can earn respect
for sound judgment and leader-
ship qualities. A drowning per- NO. 3252 SUNDAY CROSSWORD
son will grip any hand that is of-
fered. Just go with whatever is
expedient.
Capricorn
If you are clay, then life is the
potter. You are malleable and ad-
just to circumstances when nec-
essary. In the coming week, be
wise and keep your money in
your pocket and stick to facts.
You’re stuck between two things.
As you proceed, what’s kept you
TIMES KAKURO
(Fig A) Not allowed
(Fig B)
CRYPTIC CLUES
Across Down
1 Biblical headhunter (6) 1 Boards with relative by
4 Feat of a magician with a marriage (7)
topper and a bowler (3,5) 2 One way to avoid friction may
9 Apply preservatives - a be a bit cruel (9)
3 A boy interrupts my
typical measure with new
lamb (6) complaint (6)
10 Press for a reduction? (8) 5 State welcome to king (4)
12 Lively parties given by mum 6 Reveal oneself to be a beastly
in lodgings (8) coward (4,4)
13 Drawing room (6) 7 Headless reptile leaping
15 Ordered, as whisky may about in the Pyrenees (5)
be (4) 8 A sign that visitors aren’t
16 Word of praise (10) welcome (4,3)
19 The tears we shed for a 11 Cut needs re-doing (7)
Level: Medium loved one (10) 14 Economical telephone call to
The numbers in the coloured squares Note: A digit cannot appear more 20 Sunny smile? (4) a health resort (7)
refer to the sums of the digits that you than once in any particular digit 23 Give firm backing to a 17 Always on the go, is Ivy (9)
must fill into the empty spaces directly combination. For instance in the system of worship that’s 18 Stable charge for a horse (8)
below or to the right of the blue square example, we cannot have the mystical (6) 19 Southern company press for
containing the number. For instance, in combination of 8+4+8 for 20. 25 Risk death with passion (8) means of punishment (7)
the given example, the 2 boxes below 21 Spoil Sarah with a light
27 Hat-clutching commercial
12 must contain 2 digits that add up to 20
travellers, crawlers (8) wine (7)
12, whereas for 20, the 3 boxes placed 12
28 Entertainment that’s a nice 22 Bill comes up with some
horizontally next to it must add up to 20.
Today’s Ratings: 05-average No zeroes are used here, only the digits Example change to mother (6) jewellery, showing
29 Girl holds no alternative site affection (6)
one through nine.
for Hamlet (8) 24 Manages to vary in scope (5)
How many words of four or more letters 30 Things to be done in 26 Bring up or what one may
can you make from the letters shown in
today’s puzzle? In making a word, each MINDBENDER company (6) bring up (4)
word must contain the central letter.
Five jail birds, André, Burnell,
Ernie, Ron, and Wilf are in a line
Hints:
Burnell and Ernie total 888.
QUICK CLUES
There should be at least one seven let-
ter word. Plurals, foreign words and up. Burnell and Wilf do not end in 3. Across Down
proper names are not allowed. British Each mug shot has an identifying Burnell and Ron total 4800. 1 Rough drawing (6) 1 Seek after (7)
number. 4 Inconvenient (8)
9 Room to manoeuvre (6)
2 Startling revelation (3-6)
3 Bad-tempered (6)
10 Politically radical (4-4) 5 Votes against a motion (4)
12 Flawlessly carried out (8) 6 Be too clever for (8)
13 Obstruct (6) 7 Tolerate (5)
15 Strong flavour (4) 8 Stray from the point (7)
16 Maintain solidarity (5,5) 11 Whatever is available (7)
19 Improbable (3-7) 14 Austerely self-denying (7)
20 To exchange (4)
17 Eastern US state (3,6)
23 Disturbance (6)
25 Thread (8) 18 To control (8)
HAGAR THE HORRIBLE
27 Cooked covered with 19 Motley assortment (7)
breadcrumbs (2,6) 21 Sample (7)
28 Great deal of trouble (6) 22 Central American republic (6)
29 At a point in a journey (2,3,3) 24 Strength (5)
30 North American ravine (6) 26 Operatic prima donna (4)
SOLUTIONS FOR CROSSWORD NO. 3251
CRYPTIC QUICK
SOLUTIONS TO GAMES AND PUZZLES
TIMES SUDOKU LOOP THE LOOP TIMES KAKURO
WIZARD OF ID
SPELLATHON MINDBENDER
ROOMFUL number?
form, forum, from, loom, moor, room, What is André's mug shot
SCRAMBLE
Answer: Everything that has a beginning comes to an end. — Quintilian
Words: Liege, inane, unkind, bigwig
 FIVE CLASSICS THE Whose recommendations do you
want to see here? Write to us at
Full Metal
FILMMAKER RECOMMENDS timeslife@timesgroup.com Jacket is
one of the
best anti-war
films of all time.
With great
films, you find
something new
ANUBHAV SINHA Children of Heaven, Full Metal Jacket, Mughal-e-Azam, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Casablanca, 1942 every time you
1997, Director: 1987, Director: 1960, Director: 1983, Director: Director: watch them
masterclass Majid Majidi Stanley Kubrick K Asif Kundan Shah Michael Curtiz
A SUPPLEMENT OF SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA APRIL 26, 2020 BENGALURU
ADVERTORIAL, LIFESTYLE PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

YEAR OF THE MASK

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THIS SUMMER,
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Amrita.Prasad@timesgroup.com — Abhishek Dutta ally! You can climb Mt
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I
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#CoronaFear? Don’t
abandon feline friends
Amrita.Prasad@timesgroup.com CAN HUMANS GET CORONAVIRUS
FROM CATS, AND VICE VERSA?
CAN CATS GET THE VIRUS? No one really knows for sure yet. A lot of research
Well, it seems, the answer is yes. There is being carried out into this. WOAH’s experi-
are two confirmed cases right now. A pet ments and observations in the lab show that cats
cat in Belgium was infected by its owner, are able transmit the infection to other cats – but
who is COVID-19 positive. A number of to other humans? There’s no evidence to suggest
tigers and lions in Bronx Zoo (New York), this. So owners need not be wary of their felines at
tested positive after coming in contact home and they definitely shouldn’t even think
with their infected caretaker. about abandoning them.
WHAT DOES THE WORLD SO WHAT PRECAUTIONS SHOULD
BODY SAY? CAT OWNERS TAKE AT HOME?
Frankly, that cats can be at risk. The If pet owners test positive, they need to stay
World Organisation for Animal
Health (WOAH) states: “preliminary
findings from laboratory studies sug-
Pets & Us away from their cats. This holds true even if
they get the common flu. Also, it helps to
ensure good hygiene at home – for yourself
gest that, of the animal species in- and the cat.
vestigated so far, cats are the most susceptible species for COVID- (Information provided by Dr Rahul Kolhe, assistant professor,
19, and cats can be affected with clinical disease." Krantisinh Nana Patil College of Veterinary Science, Shirval)

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It’s not just a song or an
idea, it’s planting a seed:
AR Rahman on Hands
Around The World
Debarati.Sen@timesgroup.com
R Rahman has joined hands with global
A musicians, visionaries and philanthropists
for Hands Around The World, a first-of-its-
kind music and technology initiative. In a bid to
raise awareness about the dangers of climate
change, the global project was announced on the
50th Earth Day (April 22). The initiative includes
the use of an app, which will link one billion peo-
ple holding hands around the world in a virtual
reality selfie-chain through hologram and aug-
mented reality technology (it’s the brainchild of
entertainment entrepreneur Neil Morgan). In an
interview with us, Rahman gives an insight into
his initiative. Excerpts...
What makes this project different from your
other musical collaborations?
It is not just a song or an idea — it is a planting of
seed. We hope that many beautiful things will take
place when people hold hands around the world with
the help of augmented reality.
Why did you choose Earth Day to launch it?
The day seemed perfect for the launch, as we are
talking about the welfare of the Earth and that it
must come above everything. We don’t want our chil-
dren’s children to complain about the mess our gen-
eration has made with the forests and the oceans.
The project also features Ken Kragen, creator of
the charity single We Are The World in 1985. What
was your first impression of the timeless track?
I was doing ad jingles when the song released. Af-
ter that, every agency wanted to do a song like We
Kanika Kapoor, Ramayan
top lockdown searches
month of coronavirus lockdown has changed a lot for
A Indians. As per recent data, the online search trends
during this month reflect this change.
KANIKA KAPOOR BECOMES THE
MOST-SEARCHED INDIAN CELEB
Till the beginning of March, Kanika Kapoor was known as
the Baby Doll singer. The playback singer was popular but
hardly the talk of the town. That, however, changed when last
month she tested positive for COVID-19, followed by a con-
troversy on her social appearances in the week preceding her
diagnosis. In fact, Kanika was so talked about in the last few
weeks that she dethroned Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Ra-
jinikanth to be the most-searched celebrity as per a release
by Yahoo India. According to a statement released by the
search engine, “Kanika Kapoor wasn’t just the most- searched Kanika Kapoor dethroned
female celebrity, she was the most searched celebrity among Priyanka Chopra Jonas as the
both male and female celebs, throughout the lockdown.”
RE-RUN OF RAMAYAN TOPS LOCKDOWN
ENTERTAINMENT SEARCH
Last month when Union Information and Broadcasting Min-
ister Prakash Javadekar announced the return of Ramayan
on small screen, it brought back childhood memories for
many. And now the show has topped the most searched en-
tertainment source chart.
As per the search engine, “It was entertainment as usual
pre-lockdown, with netizens in India searching for Bigg Boss,
Drive, Tanhaji, Housefull 4 and Good Newwz as their top en-
tertainment searches. After the lockdown, Ramayan broke
through overnight to become the top entertainment search
after it was rerun on Doordarshan.” — TNN
Kannada television industry in doldrums as viewers prefer movies over reruns
#LockdownEffect
Jothe Jotheyalli, which was at the top of its game prior
to lockdown, has now lost out on its popularity
TV show Naagini 2 had
just started out when
Reruns of the TV show
Gattimela has managed the lockdown was
announced
to sustain its run so far
The project also features
Akon and Ken Kragen
WE DON’T WANT OUR CHILDREN’S
CHILDREN TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE
MESS OUR GENERATION HAS MADE
WITH THE FORESTS AND THE OCEANS
Are The World. It
was a powerful
song and an idea
loaded with so many lessons. The beautiful thing
about doing something for a greater cause is that
unlikely people come together. When you’re work-
ing for a greater cause you deplete your egos and
mingle with everyone as equals.
The album is a year-long venture and will have
global music styles. How did you manage to rope
in so many artistes from around the world for it?
We had a very kind letter from music producer
BUZZSTOP
SPIDEY, DR STRANGE, MI
INSTALLMENTS PUSHED
SPIDER-MAN, DOCTOR STRANGE and MISSION
IMPOSSIBLE fans will have to wait longer to see these
characters on the big screen. Spider-Man: Into The
most searched celeb
Ramayan replaced
Bigg Boss as the top
Spider-Verse sequel will now release on October 7, 2022,
instead of April 8, 2022. The final movie in the
entertainment search
TV shows that were popular before the lockdown have been discontinued
Vinay.Lokesh@timesgroup.com
hen the nation-wide lockdown
W was announced, Kannada TV
production houses thought that
they could weather it with the bank of ex-
tra episodes they had and a few reruns, if
at all. But when the pandemic called for an
extension of the lockdown, not only did
they run out of banked episodes, but they
were also losing viewers steadily, who
switched to other content, mainly movies,
instead of reruns. The road to recovery,
they say, is going to be quite the challenge.
`75 CRORE LOSS FOR KANNADA
ENTERTAINMENT CHANNELS
According to the president of Kannada
Television Association, SV Shivakumar,
the annual turnover of Kannada general
entertainment channels is between `700 to
800 crore. “As of now, the losses incurred
are to the tune of `75 crore, which will only
increase if shooting does not resume soon.
The TV industry pays crores in GST and
other indirect taxes, but there has been no
relief announcement so far, despite the dif-
ficult times. We intend to approach the
government for assistance as close to 6,000
Follow us on: twitter.com/BangaloreTimes1
facebook.com/BangaloreTimesOfficial
instagram.com/bangalore_times
AR RAHMAN
Quincy Jones supporting the project and endors-
ing me. His letter got circulated just around the
Grammys and artistes like Natasha Bedingfield,
Cody Simpson and Mary Mary were kind enough
to join. Akon has also confirmed. Many other
artistes will be joining us for the second line of ses-
sions, which are going to take place after we emerge
from the pandemic.
How are you coping with lockdown?
In this lockdown, there seems to be a hidden mes-
sage crying out loud. It could be subjective, but we
need to find what that message is for each one of us.
Homecoming trilogy will open on November 5,
2021, instead of July 16, 2021. Doctor Strange
sequel, which was moved to November 5,
2021, will now open on March 25, 2022.
Mission Impossible’s seventh install-
ment, which was slated for July 23,
2021, will open on November 19, 2021.
The eighth installment will release on
November 4, 2022. — Agencies
people are dependent on the industry for
their livelihood,” he says. Producer Shruti
Naidu chips in, “We get payments from
channels only for fresh content, and until
that happens, everyone is in doldrums.”
RECONNECTING WITH VIEWERS
WILL BE A CHALLENGE
Even if the lockdown relaxation allows
WE’D LIKE TO START
SHOOTING WITH MINIMAL
CREW ON SET. THIS IS
BEING REQUESTED IN
OTHER CITIES TOO, SO,
WE WOULD ALSO LIKE TO
TRY, BUT ONLY IF WE CAN
ENSURE THAT IT WILL
NOT CONTRIBUTE TO THE
SPREADING OF THE
PANDEMIC
— Raghavendra Hunsur,
business head of a channel
CELEBRATING
AKSHAYA
Pics: maskindia.com
TRITIYA
@kudi_atrangi @deepagurnani
#LifeInTheLockdown
Rakul: This lockdown’s been
the longest break of my life
RAKUL PREET SINGH
I’VE KEPT A
TIGHT
SCHEDULE SO
THAT I DON’T
FEEL LIKE A LAZY
BUM WHEN THE
LOCKDOWN
ENDS. I WAKE UP
AT 6.30-7AM,
READ AND THEN
DO YOGA AND
MEDITATION
y last day of shoot was March 18, kid were hectic because my parents would
M
and I’ve been home since then. I’ve put us in different courses and activities. I
kept a tight schedule, so that I don’t think staying at home for so long is a new
feel like a lazy bum when the lockdown ends. thing and in a way, it is good because you start
I wake up at 6.30-7am, read and then do yoga understanding that no matter what you plan,
and meditation. Right now, I’m reading a book nature has its own ways. This is the time to
called Why We Sleep. I finished reading Char-
iots of the Gods? and Cosmic Consciousness.
In the afternoon, I do my social media lives
self-introspect and connect with yourself. I’m
giving a lot of time to personal development
right now.
or any other planned activity. I’ve watched all
Oscar-winning films from the last two years,
The biggest takeaway for me is that this
pandemic is an equaliser. We plan so much,
and am also watching a couple of shows.
Every evening, I watch a movie and two-three
episodes of a show. Though I have a cook, I’m
cooking, and have launched a YouTube chan-
nel on the same.
and we’re running around in general. But a
crisis like this makes you realise that you are
insignificant in the face of this planet, and
what matters is your health, the people you
love and the memories you make. Everything
Luckily, my brother is with me in Mumbai.
He came to see me for a day before the lock-
down and got stuck here. I’ve never been at
home for this long — this is the longest break
else takes a back seat — your drive and ag-
gression for work, too, because you need to
sit back, wait and pray that everyone you love
and the world get better.
of my life. Even my summer vacations as a — As told to Riya.Sharma@timesgroup.com
Locked-down Rolling Stones release
new track, Living In A Ghost Town
he Rolling Stones
T gave their fans some
satisfaction
Thursday by releasing a
on
new track Living In A Ghost
Town, part-recorded during
the coronavirus lockdown.
The song, powered by a Kei-
th Richards’ riff and a
chanted refrain, comes with
a video showing deserted
streets and subway stations
in London, Los Angeles, Ky-
oto and other cities.
— Agencies
MEANWHILE, AUDITIONS FOR
shooting of new content, producers now
worry if viewers will resume watching REALITY SHOWS GO ONLINE
with the same level of interest as before, as
they would have forgotten what transpired.
Director and producer KS Ramji, says, “I
had launched two new shows, Naagini 2
The auditions for new seasons of shows like Sa Re Ga
Ma Pa, Drama Juniors and Majaa Bharatha have gone
online. Contestants who were selected earlier, have to
and Geetha, and then the lockdown came now send their videos to the production team. “As we
along and we couldn’t even rely on reruns.
The question now is, how do you get your
cannot visit each district to conduct auditions, we are
audience back, considering many of them going online to select contestants. If it works out, we
have been catching shows of blockbuster will continue this format even after the lockdown
Kannada movies instead.” ends,” says a spokesperson from a prominent
TRP DYNAMICS HAVE CHANGED Kannada GEC channel.
Business head of a channel, Raghavendra
Hunsur, agrees and adds that the viewer-
ship patterns have changed. “People need
light-hearted and feel-good content. This
should explain why several Kannada
movies hogged TRPs in this period, with
serials lagging behind,” he says. Dod-
damane Huduga, Jagamalla and The Vil-
lain topped TRPs with Gattimela the sole
serial in the top 10 list.
Shruti adds, “Once back on floors, we
are looking at shooting a few recap
episodes before delving into new story
lines and angles. We have to treat every se- TV screenings of movies like Doddamane Huduga have
been topping TRPs during the lockdown
rial as a new show launch.”