Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa

Indian TV media is so compromised & pathetic that we find out about 100+ deaths due to rain & storms in UP from the Russian President. In no other supposed “democracy” is the media so entirely controlled by the ruling party. It’s beyond shameful.

It must be handed to media that on cue they have started discussing austerity, fuel crisis etc.-- something that didnt exist till day before yesterday. Students of communication can use this as textbook example of narrative setting.

In an era before modern surgical training kits, Kadambini practiced her vascular repairs on lace patterns at night. When she entered the operating theater the next morning, her hands moved with a speed the male doctors could not comprehend. She was not just knitting; she was hacking her muscle memory to become the most precise surgeon in Bengal. In 1883, 2 women stood on the podium of the University of Calcutta, not as guests, but as graduates. But for Kadambini Ganguly (1861-1923), the degree was merely a declaration of war against a society that believed a woman’s touch could heal a home, but never a human heart. Kadambini Ganguly was the 1st woman to 'practice western medicine in India'. But she almost never became a doctor because of a single prof's spite. During her final exams at Calcutta Medical College, a conservative prof named Dr. RC Chandra who openly detested the idea of women in medicine deliberately failed her by exactly 1 mark in Materia Medica. This failure meant she could not get her MB (Bachelor of Medicine). Most would have quit. Instead, Kadambini exploited a loophole: she took a Graduate of Bengal Medical College (GBMC) diploma, which allowed her to practice, & then sailed across the Black Waters (Kala Pani) to Edinburgh. She obtained the LRCP (Edinburgh), LRCS (Glasgow), & LFP S (Glasgow)... the prestigious Triple Qualification. She completed these grueling certifications in just a few months. The Scottish profs were baffled by this Indian woman who moved through the curricula like a lightning strike. She was not there to learn; she was there to prove she already knew everything they had to teach. She obtained a Triple Qualification in record time, effectively out-qualifying the very prof who tried to block her. The most visceral part of Kadambini’s story is the neglect & insult she endured from her own countrymen. The editor of a popular conservative magazine, Bangabasi, was so incensed by her practicing medicine that he publicly called her a Prostitute (Swairini) in print. Instead of retreating in shame, Kadambini (backed by her husband Dwarkanath) did something unheard of for an Indian woman in 1891: She sued him. She dragged the editor to court & won. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail & a fine of 100 rupees. It was the 1st time an Indian woman had used the British legal system to defend her professional honor against character assassination. Her impact on the "Purdah" system was her greatest achievement. Because high-born Indian women refused to be seen by male doctors, they were dying in droves from preventable complications. Kadambini became the Ghost Doctor who slipped behind the curtains of the Zenanas (women's quarters). Despite being more qualified than most of her male British counterparts, she was often relegated to the role of a Lady Assistant in govt hospitals. She did not complain. She used that assistant status to gain access to the poorest women in the wards, single-handedly dropping the maternal mortality rate in her circles of practice. In 1889, Kadambini was 1 of the 1st 6 women delegates at the Indian National Congress. In 1890, she became the 1st woman to ever address the Congress session in English. As she spoke, the room filled with the greatest male minds of the independence movement fell into a stunned silence. She was the voice of a gender that had been mute in the political arena for centuries. 3rd Oct, 1923. She is 62 years old. She has just performed a complex, life-saving surgery. Her hands are steady. She finishes the final stitch, cleans her instruments, & walks home. She tells her family she is a little tired. Within hrs, she is gone. She did not die in a bed of sickness; she died with the literal blood of her work still fresh on her soul’s resume. She was the woman who was told she was 1 mark short of a doc, only to become the woman who marked an entire nation’s history. Kadambini Ganguly did not just practice medicine; she was the medicine that a poisoned society desperately needed to swallow.

The front page is a forgery designed not just by cheats & liars but also by morons who have no idea what Hindu front pages looked like in that era.

Happiest video on the internet today! A house help at MDMK chief Vaiko’s residence couldn’t hold back her excitement after seeing Tamil Nadu CM Vijay She couldn't hide her excitement. ..Vijay’s response was classic 👇🏻

The front page of @the_hindu dated June6, 1967 being posted on SM over gold controls is fake, likely AI generated. The actual front page on that day was headlined by the Arab-Israel war. Both posted below. Thank u for your attention to this matter!

A Qs for those living outside Tamil Nadu: would any other major state welcome as chief minister in today’s India someone whose full name is Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay . What TN has shown today, may India do tomorrow: respect our unique multi-religious, multi-cultural diversity and give everyone a fair shot at their dreams. ⭐️👍

The debt. This is the mechanism nobody talks about because it requires understanding how money works and most people find finance boring, which is exactly why it is the preferred instrument. When colonized countries gained independence, they inherited: Debt incurred by colonial governments: for railways built to extract resources, for administrative infrastructure that served the colonizer's needs, and for the costs of suppressing their own independence movements. Debt denominated in the colonizer's currency and owed to the colonizer's banks. Haiti's case is the most grotesque example on record. Haiti defeated Napoleon's army in 1803. The first Black republic. The only successful slave revolution in history to create an independent nation. France's response came in 1825: it recognized Haiti's independence only after sending warships and forcing Haiti to pay 150 million gold francs, later reduced to 90 million, as compensation. Compensation for what? For the slaves. France demanded that Haiti pay France for the loss of the human beings that Haiti had freed. Haiti paid. For 122 years, Haiti paid. The final payment was made in 1947. That debt, and the economic strangulation it required, is a direct structural cause of Haiti's poverty today. And today, when Haiti is poor, when Haiti struggles, when Haiti has political instability, some people look at it and say: "See? They cannot govern themselves. They needed the stern hand." No. The stern hand is why they are where they are. The invoice is still being paid.

The slavery apologists said: but we fed them. Housed them. Gave them religion. Brought them from savagery into contact with civilization. The colonial apologists said: but we built railways. Hospitals. Legal systems. Brought order to chaos. Raised the standard of living. Gave them modernity. The contemporary apologists say: but we give aid. Promote democracy. Protect human rights. Stabilize fragile states. The world would be more violent without our presence. The structure is identical across five hundred years. The framing is always: We gave. We brought. We raised. We provided. The passive voice is always assigned to the other person. They received. They were brought. They were raised. They were provided for. Never: They had. They built. They governed. They decided. They were capable, before and without you, of existing as full human beings with the right to determine their own conditions. That sentence. That is the sentence that colonial ideology, in all its iterations, cannot say. Because once you say it, once you actually believe it, not as a liberal sentiment but as a foundational reality, the entire justification structure collapses. And all that's left is what it always was. Taking. Just taking. From people who had every right to what you took.

This one is for the Indian Joke Book of the Decade.

They have tried everything to stop Vijay, even misused Governor office, but at the end they failed and People's mandate has Won 🔥 TVK Vijay - 108 Congress - 5 CPI + CPM - 4 VCK - 2 Now its official : 119 ✌ Tamilnadu CM : Joseph Vijay 😎👑

It is in the fitness of things that Governor Tamil Nadu should invite the BjP MLA to take oath as CM Tamil Nadu because no one else fits the bill. I admire his legal, administrative and political wisdom. He has made @TVKVijayHQ walk thrice to Raj Bhavan - once with 107 then 112 now 2 short of majority. But as a true mathematician he sent him back. Like a judge he is waiting now for AIDMK or DMK - but they are still squabbling. With BJP MLA as CM, he should invite the chiefs of ED, CBI and the CAPFs to witness the ceremony and camp there to verify the credentials and purity of various MLAs. Within a week a majority will stand behind him in the assembly.

We are glad that Mr. Raees Khan, who was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia following a stroke, has safely reached India 🇮🇳. The Embassy assisted in obtaining his final exit and arranged his wheelchair ticket as well as the ticket for his medical escort. Always happy to help! Supporting the Indian community remains the Embassy’s top priority. @MEAIndia @diaspora_india @meaMADAD @SecretaryCPVOIA

Final TN twist for tonight: all 5 TN Cong MLAs have arrived in Bengaluru amidst fears they could be ‘poached’ by the neta-bizman nexus. This is what ‘demo-crazy’ has been reduced to by sheer money power. Only because Vijay chose to take on the ‘establishment’! Tragic. 🙏

The bloodiest lie of the last century is that Western domination was a civilizing force. Civilization for whom? For the villages burned from the sky. For the forests poisoned. For the islands turned into bases. For the nations strangled by debt and called "corrupt" when they collapsed. No. What they civilized was extraction. What they modernized was plunder. What they globalized was submission.

Western empires love to accuse others of fanaticism because they cannot survive honest inspection of their own beliefs. What could be more fanatical than flattening countries for abstractions like credibility, deterrence, prestige, or strategic depth? What could be more deranged than starving children in the name of stability? What could be more cult-like than believing your violence is uniquely redemptive while everyone else’s resistance is pathological? This is not rationality. It is imperial theology. A secular religion of domination in which the market is sacred, military supremacy is moral, and the dead of the Global South are the burnt offerings.

IMPORTANT: TN governor Rajendra Arlekar has in an official Lok Bhavan release told Vijay and TVK that requisite support has not been established for him to be sworn in. Amidst contrasting precedents, one thing is CLEAR: majorities cannot be decided in Lok Bhavan BUT on floor of assembly. So why is Governor keeping Vijay waiting when no one else is staking a claim? Governor is meant to ensure govts are formed, not block their formation after an election!

It was just before dawn. Hyderabad city hadn’t fully woken up yet. At Begum Bazar’s Jinsi Chauraha, what looked like an ordinary morning turned into a moment of raw courage. On March 4, Manju Omlata stepped out for a morning walk with her daughter-in-law. As they reached near Hindi Marwadi Vidyalaya, a rowdy-sheeter from Dabirpura, Mohammed Sohel, suddenly lunged at her, trying to snatch the gold chain from her neck. In the struggle, his scooter lost balance and fell. The victim screamed for help. A few meters away, an auto driver, Mohammed Zaheer, had already crossed the spot. But something in his side mirror caught his attention. He had moved nearly 100 meters ahead. He didn’t think twice. Zaheer immediately turned his auto around and sped back. As the accused tried to escape, Zaheer rammed his auto into the bike, knocking him down. The rowdy-sheeter picked up a stick and attacked. Zaheer didn’t back off. He stood his ground, fought back, and stopped him from fleeing. By then, patrolling police reached the spot and took the accused into custody. And Zaheer? He quietly left. No noise. No claim. No reward expected. Later, the victim informed the Goshamahal police about the unknown auto driver who stepped in when it mattered. CCTV cameras had captured everything. The chase. The impact. The fight. Police traced the auto number from the footage and, using technical inputs, identified Zaheer. On Tuesday, at the TGICCC in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar invited Zaheer to his chamber. He was honoured with a cash reward and a commendation certificate. CP VC Sajjanar called him what most people only talk about - a real role model. In a time when many look away, Zaheer chose to act. He risked his life for a stranger. Asked for nothing in return. The accused, Mohammed Sohel, has been arrested by Goshamahal Police. He is a known rowdy-sheeter with 16 cases across police stations.

@gdalmiathinks Very interesting indeed!

Interesting article.