June 27, 2020, Saturday, 24 pages R4, Mumbai | Phone : 6831 4800 | Fax : 2642 6812 | www.mid-day.com

The Amazon man betting big on India

What is thepoint of Unlockwithout locals? Citizens and experts say ground situation badly hit, call for opening up of more transport options for the public in a safe manner

EXCLUSIVE » Meet James Farrell, who has greenlighted some crackling desi content for the streaming giant

MAYANK SHEKHAR

mayank.shekhar@mid-day.com

JAMES Farrell, sitting in his Los Angeles home, and on a screen before me in Mumbai, is one of India’s biggest stars. Except that few in India, even in the movie industry, would’ve heard of him; let alone met him. And Farrell is not an actor. So, how is he a star in the showbiz sense? Let me explain. » P12

RAJENDRA B. AKLEKAR

rajendra.aklekar@mid-day.com

WHILE the government is be-ginning to allow more and more offices and shops to remain open now, limited public trans-port opportunities and differ-

ences in policies at the state and Union government levels have left citizens hassled. The issue of public transport came to the fore on Thursday when the Ministry of Railways extended their lockdown of trains till Au-gust 12. » P07

ARITA SARKAR

arita.sarkar@mid-day.com

AS COVID-19 spreads to res-idential buildings from slum pockets in P North ward (Mal-ad), the BMC prepares to tack-le the contagion with door-to-door screening. Starting today, the ward officials, with the help of an NGO, will screen the residents for symptoms of the novel Coronavirus. » P03

BMC TO START DOOR-TO-DOORSCREENING IN MALAD BUILDINGS

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‘The Ganesh festival will see huge crowds going to Konkan. In this type of travel [no halts for trains within state], they will not be able to take the train and it will lead to chaos on the highways. That’s when the short-sighted government will wake up’ Akshay Mahapadi, activist

BMC health workers head for door-to-door screening at Appa Pada, Malad, on Friday. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

Officials say that in the critical ward, cases are coming down in slums, and spiking in high-rises; rope in NGO to help with screening

STATE BREACHES 5,000-CASE/DAY MARK; TOTAL DEATHS CROSS 7,000 » P02

Max. no. of bldgs where residents will be screened

4,000Approx no. of COVID-19 cases in P North ward (Malad)

40

‘Since screening helped bring down number of infections in slum pockets, we are starting it in residential buildings, too, where cases are surging’ Sanjog

Kabare, asst commissioner

of P North ward

Commuters at Churchgate station after Unlock 1.0 was announced earlier this month. FILE PIC/BIPIN KOKATE

02 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

A CORRESPONDENT

mailbag@mid-day.com

THE state’s COVID-19 count jumped by 5,024 fresh cases, the highest number record-

ed in a single day, as the total number of cases crossed 1.5 lakh on Friday. With 175 COV-ID-19-related deaths added to the tally, Maharashtra’s death count crossed the 7,000 mark to reach 7,106; 117 of the deaths occurred in Mumbai.

Among the total cases, 65,829 COVID-19 patients are current-ly being treated in the state and on Friday, 2,362 patients were discharged after a full recov-ery. While Mumbai had 1,297 new cases, Pune witnessed a significant jump with 772 fresh cases. The recovery rate of the state stands at 52.25 per cent.

For the city, civic officials said the average daily growth rate is 1.7 per cent and two administra-tive wards have a growth rate of 3.5 per cent each while others have a rate below 3 per cent.

State health department offi-cials said that of the 175 deaths in Maharashtra, 91 occurred in

the last 48 hours while the rest took place earlier. Among the deaths from the last 48 hours, 44 of them took place in Mum-bai, 14 each in Pune and Au-rangabad, eight in Nashik, two each in Kalyan-Dombivali, La-tur, Akola and Nanded and one each in Kolhapur, Nagpur and Gondia. Currently, the state’s death rate is 4.65 per cent.

Meanwhile, as part of recon-ciling past data, civic officials issued yet another notice to all hospitals to report all pending COVID-19-related deaths with-out any repetitions.

The notice further stated

that from July 1 onwards, hos-pitals will have to report all COVID-19-related deaths with-in 48 hours. Among the admin-istrative wards, while K East ward has nearly 5,000 cases, G North ward has 4,640 cases and K West ward has 4,174 cases.

The number of patients cur-rently being treated, however, is higher in K West ward. Civic officials said that while Dharavi had eight new cases, Dadar had 18 and Mahim had 23. Officials added that the current doubling rate of G North ward stands at 140 days while the growth rate is 0.47 per cent.

State’s recovery rate reaches 52.25%, death toll crosses 7,000

COVID-19TICKER

1,52,765TOTAL NO. CORONAVIRUS CASES IN

MAHARASHTRA AS OF TODAY

PALLAVI SMART

pallavi.smart@mid-day.com

AFTER a much lull period, the city witnessed light to moderate rainfall on Friday morning at several places. On Friday, Mumbai’s major observa-tories Colaba and Santacruz recorded rainfall of 0.0mm and 6.4mm, respec-tively. As per the forecast by the IMD Mumbai – it will be generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of light to moderate rain and thunderstorms.

Even though it has been more than a week since monsoon arrival was officially declared by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Mumbai, after initial few showers, rainfall had completely disappeared from the city.

However, according to IMD, the city is likely to get more frequent showers with every passing day until the first week of July. While the city will start seeing significant rain ac-tivity from June 28 as per the weather forecast, IMD declared official arriv-al of monsoon across the country on

Friday which is 12 days earlier than its usual time of around July 8.

“Mumbai and surrounding areas received light to moderate rainfall in the last 24 hours. Western suburbs received good rainfall,” tweeted K S Hoasalikar, deputy director-general of meteorology, at India MET depart-ment, Mumbai.

“This is certainly an unusual ar-rival of monsoon. Generally, it has strong arrival, especially in Mum-bai and surrounding areas with heavy rains. But monsoon surge has weakened over Maharashtra coast, especially after the Nisarga cyclone which led to major pre-monsoon rain activity. There were also a few spells of heavy showers after the arrival of monsoon. Heavy rains are on cards for Mumbai and surrounding areas in July,” explained Mahesh Palawat, Chief Meteorologist at the Skymet Weather, a private agency.

Though significant rainfall activity is expected in the city and surround-ing areas, no heavy rainfall warning has been issued.

PRAJAKTA KASALE

prajakta.kasale@mid-day.com

THE city has only 9 per cent of total water stock available in lakes. Al-though there was sufficient water in lakes till the end of May, the delay in monsoon is leading towards water scarcity and in all probability, if the rainfall is delayed any further, the city will have to face water cuts.

Last year the city had to face water cut till July, due to insufficient rain-fall in 2018. But in 2019, the catchment area of lakes received good rainfall and rain continued till the first week of December. This saw lakes filled to the capacity leading to sufficient water stock even during the summer of 2020.

On April 24, the city had 29 per cent water stock, way above the 19 per cent water stock on the same date in 2019. But now, on June 26, the city lakes are drying up. There is 1.36 lakh million litres water remaining out of a total of 14.47 lakh million litres storage ca-pacity of lakes.

The city gets 3,800 million litres water per day and as per the wa-ter board estimation, it will last for another 30 days. “We are keeping a watch on the situation. From the experience of the past, the city gets rainfall in July. There already has been a delay in June,” said an officer from the Hydraulic Department.

In the last six years, this is the third time when the city has less than 10 per cent of water stock at the end of June either due to deficient rain the previous year or the delay in mon-soon. Despite the arrival of monsoon, the city received only a few spells of the rain.

There are seven lakes - Bhatsa, Tansa, Upper Vaitarna, Middle Vai-tarna, Modak Sagar on Thane-Nashik belt and Tulsi and Vihar in Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SNGP) which provide water to the city.

Expect moderate showers till the first week on JulyWeathermen predict Mumbai will see significant rain activity from June 28 onwards; accross the country monsoon arrives 12 days earlier than expected

Though significant rainfall is expected in the city, no heavy rainfall warning has been issued. FILE PHOTO/SATEJ SHINDE

Just 30 days of water left for cityAny further delay in rainfall will lead to major water cuts: BMC

Tansa lake. In the last six years, this is the third time the city has less than 10 per cent of water stock at the end of June. FILE PIC

Water in lakes

on June 26

Year Water stock Per cent

(in million of total

litres) water stock

2020 1,35,826 9.38

2019 73,784 5.09

2018 2,53,043 17.48

2017 3,48,019 24.05

2016 96,665 6.68

2015 3,32,647 22.98

2018

2015

2014

2009

Previous Water cuts

10 per cent water cut declared on November 14, lasted last till July 2019.

20 per cent water cut imposed in July. The water cut remained throughout the year till next monsoon.

20 per cent cut in July as the water stock would last for only 30 days; lasted till September.

The city had faced severe water problems in the year 2009. That year, Mumbai faced 15 to 30 per cent water cuts.

Total water storage capacity

of seven lakes: 14,47,363

million litres’

On April 24, the city had 29

per cent water stock, way

above the 19 per cent on the

same date in 2019. But now,

on June 26, lakes are drying

up. There is 1.36 lakh million

litres water remaining out of

a total of 14.47 lakh million

litres storage capacity of lakes

As part of reconciling past

data, civic officials issued

a notice to all hospitals to

report all pending COVID-

19-related deaths without

any repetitions

Health workers test residents of Gandhi Nagar at Akurli Road in Kandivli. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

03 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

PRAJAKTA KASALE

prajakta.kasale@mid-day.com

CORPORATE companies and indus-tries located in Containment Zones will have to do antigen tests for their employees without relying on the civic body.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Cor-poration (BMC) has asked private hos-pitals and labs to get permissions to do the tests. Meantime, BMC will start testing its health workers, citizens aged above 70 years and residents of Containment Zones.

It will start the antigen testing in the city after getting approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). In a shift in position, the BMC, which once had several stringent crite-ria for testing is now asking corporates and industries to test all employees.

The ICMR has allowed rapid antigen testing which does not require any spe-cialised machine. It can show results within 30 minutes. While it is less ac-curate – a positive result shows a con-firmed case, but negative test results need further testing for confirmation, the antigen testing is a promising tool

for quick diagnosis of the COVID-19 infection. The BMC has already placed the order for antigen test kits. These kits will be distributed to four hospi-tals – Kasturba, KEM, Sion and Cooper. As per the guidelines of ICMR, the test will be useful for the vulnerable pop-ulation including healthcare workers, immunocompromised individuals, and individuals in CZs.

“The BMC will start testing for front-line health workers, high-risk contacts in quarantine facilities and people in CZs,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner. Senior citi-

zens in CZs will also be tested on pri-ority.

With regards to testing of corporate and industrial workers, Kakani said, “There is no need for a prescription for employees who are working in cor-porate offices or industries that fall in CZs or hotspots. The companies must do antigen testing of their employees through authorised private labs. They can’t be solely depending on BMC.” The policy on industries outside CZs has not been cleared yet.

There are 25 private labs doing RT-PCR test for detection of COVID-19.

Corporate firms in Containment Zones must test employeesWith ICMR allowing rapid antigen testing that does not involve using machines, companies told not to rely on the civic body alone

A BMC camp to test residents at IC Colony, Borivli. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

Continued from page 1

THE BMC took the decision to con-duct door-to-door testing after in-fections surged in the residential areas of P North ward, which has so far reported around 4,000 cases.

Due to shortage of manpower, the ward officials have tied up with Niramaya Health Foundation for the task.

Ten teams of volunteers will begin the screening for COVID-19 on Sat-urday, and the BMC aims to cover 30-40 residential buildings during the drive.

Among the administrative wards, P North ward has registered the fourth highest number of cases, with close to 2,500 patients undergoing treatment at present.

It has a daily average growth rate of 2.8 per cent. The civic officials said that earlier, the majority of the cases in the ward were emerging from the slum pockets, but now the residential buildings are reporting more infections.

Sanjog Kabare, the assistant mu-nicipal commissioner of P North ward, said they will first target buildings that have reported posi-tive cases.

“The number of cases in the slums

are coming down, while it is increas-ing in the residential buildings. Since the screening process was ef-fective in the slum pockets, we have decided to carry it out in residential buildings as well to control the spread of the infection,” he added.

Kabare said they tied up with the NGO for manpower and most of the ward's civic officials are engaged in the fe-ver camps set up at the slums.

“Officials from the assessment department will lead the team of vol-unteers from the NGO and will visit the buildings. They will inform the secretary of the respec-tive buildings/societies and set up a camp on the premises. But if the residents don't cooperate, the volun-teers will go door-to-door.”

Since the first week of June, fresh cases have emerged in SRA build-ings in Appa Pada, Malad East, and

residential buildings in Pushpa Park.

Vikas Deshmukh, pro-ject coordinator with Niramaya Health Foun-dation, said the volun-teers have earlier helped out at screening camps

in the slum areas, but this will be their first time in

residential complexes.“Around 10 teams com-

prising 40 volunteers will be screening the

residents. The teams in-clude third and fourth year

medical students, and other volunteers who work five-hour

shifts in PPE kits,” Deshmukh said. The screening will cover at least 4,000 people in the ward, including S V Road, Link Road and Kapil Vastu Nagar, he said.

Door-to-door screening at Malad bldgs starts todayBMC has been forced to do this after cases in P North surged post Unlock 1.0; area now has reported 4,000 positive cases till date

Close to 2,500 COVID-19 patients in P North ward are undergoing treatment at present. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

SAMIULLAH KHAN

samiullah.khan@mid-day.com

AT a time when the northern part of the city has started to show a decreas-ing trend in COVID-19 cases, Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh visited the Containment Zones (CZs) in Malad East and reviewed security deployment and arrangements made by the BMC. He further suggested that the civic body arrange for the stay of their staff working in local hospitals in the same area to eliminate the risk of further spread of the infection.

On his visit to areas like Appa Pada and Santosh Nagar, Singh appreciated the efforts of both the cops and the BMC workers in bringing down the numbers.

Speaking to mid-day, he said, “I vis-ited some areas in the Containment Zones which had become hotspots at the beginning of this month, as the number of COVID-19 cases rapidly in-creased. Mumbai has more than 750 CZs of which 250 are in the northern suburbs. We had identified 27 hotspots in the area, which include Appa Pada and Santosh Nagar. When the cases started to increase, we implemented BMC’s notification and locked down the hotspot areas till further order.”

He further said, “All shops and mar-kets were kept closed, except for those catering to essential services. Police patrolling was increased in the areas and action was taken against those found flouting rules. The BMC health

department has also increased all its activities in the areas – organising fe-ver camps, door-to-door checkups and screening of people. The result of this was that the suspected patients were detected at the right time due to which cases started to decrease.”

The commissioner toured the area, spoke to the locals, encouraged the cops and volunteers to step up their work further and also appreciated the efforts made by the BMC in controlling the rising number of cases. He also suggested that if the BMC health staff working in the local hospitals were made to stay in the same area, then they would not have to travel. This would ensure that they do not come in contact with infected people.

When contacted, Dilip Sawnt, ad-ditional commissioner (north region), said, “We will speak to the BMC offi-cials concerned and the authorities of private hospitals and try and find a solution to this.”

How cops identifi ed 27hotspots in Malad Eastand intensifi ed lockdown

‘Since the screening helped bring down the number of infections in the slum pockets, we are starting it in residential buildings, too, where the cases are surging’Sanjog Kabare, assistant municipal commissioner of P North ward

40Max. no. of buildings where residents will

be screened

2.8Average growth (in

per cent) rate of daily cases in

the ward

Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh at Appa Pada in Kurar Village, Malad on Friday. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE

mid-day’s report on June 26

Mumbai boy and frontman of the blackened death metal band Demonic Resurrection, Sahil Makhija, has put together the Demonstealer Drum Cover Contest, where the winner stands to receive $200 USD in cash. All participants have to do is cover any one song from Makhija’s most recent solo album The Last Reptilian Warrior and video record it. There’s something in store for the runner-up and participants, too. “As a musician, you spend a lot of money on promoting your work by paying for ads. The pandemic affecting musicians sparked an idea to do something that also gives back to the community. I posted a query on

social media to check if drummers would be interested in covering my songs, and received a good response. Then, drum companies also came on board and so, the prize money was increased,” Makhija told this diarist. Entries close on July 31. Visit headbangerskitchen.com if you’d like to give it a shot.

Global pop sensation Halsey will be coming out with her first book of original, autobiographical poems titled I Would Leave Me If I Could. The title will be published by Simon & Schuster (S&S) on November 10 this year. “Halsey’s lyrics show her gift for prose. We’re delighted to be a part of her continuing journey as an artiste,” Rahul Srivastava, MD, S&S India, told this diarist.

04 mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

daily dossier @devesh415: Woke up to my feed filled with “THEY DID IT” and thought someone came out with a vac-cine only to realise its just stupid Liverpool fans

KUCH KUCH HO RAHA HAIWe caught SRK shooting in the balcony of his Bandra home Mannat. We wonder what’s coming up? PIC/PradeeP dhIvar

To be or not to be?

The troll turnaround

Of late night sign-ofsBeat it to win big

Halsey, the poet

We’ve all felt the uncertainty that the lockdown brought with it. In order to channel this edginess, and make sense of it, theatre practitioner Atul Kumar got together with Kalki Koechlin, Suchitra Pillai, Rasika Dugal, Ira Dubey, Sheeba Chaddha, Shivani Tanksale, and Manasi Parekh to take a re-look at the soliloquy To be or not to be, from Hamlet. The result is a montage of snippets of the actors reciting lines from the speech in their own realities. The video has been edited by Asawari Jagushte, with art and design by Gaurav Ogale. Kumar elaborates on the idea with this diarist, “I’ve been feeling claustrophobic since the lockdown began. We’ve all been feeling this edginess and experienced some tragedies. My only way out of this was to make work and I looked for a way to experiment with the digital medium. Because we were feeling like this, I picked the Hamlet speech. The actors shot in their homes, in their everyday environment to express their own mental state and immediate reality, so you’ll find Kalki reciting the lines while tending to her child, while Manasi is working out, etc. It has been a cathartic process.”

We had reported in these pages this week that comedian Kajol Srinivasan decided to call a troll out on social media tagging Mumbai Police after receiving threats following her joke on Coronil. After the piece was published, Srinivasan received a private apology from the troll who also took down the abusive tweet. “It is important to call this out because you do give people a chance to modify their behaviour,” Srinivasan told this diarist.

It’s a hard feeling when you don’t get what you want. And it’s even harder when you are supposed to preside over the handing of ‘what you aspired for’ via someone else, who is possibly a competitor. If you delay the process or try to block it, you are subjected to accusation. This is what seemed to have happened to Additional Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, who was a top contender for the post of Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary. A batch junior to Sanjay Kumar, also Additional Chief Secretary, who ultimately replaced incumbent CS Ajoy Mehta, Kunte had to face a similar experience earlier this week.

When the CS appointment was announced Wednesday evening and a note was sent to the Services Department, ironically headed by Kunte, the ACS had wrapped up for the day. Kunte was asked to issue the orders without further delays. So, after checking who was in his office, he found a deputy secretary who was working late, and requested that the officer notify the order and also sign it. There was another order to appoint Mehta as Principal Adviser to CM Uddhav Thackeray

that had to be signed and issued by Kunte’s office. Finally, both orders were signed and issued by a deputy secretary, which isn’t the norm or tradition. Conventionally, the head of the Services Department signs such important transfers/appointment orders.

Later, Kunte clarified that there was nothing in his action that suggested a split in the bureaucracy or a sense of personal loss. He had asked a

deputy to sign things off because of the urgency, and that there would have been more problems (read: loose talk) had he delayed the process.

Kalki Koechlin with her baby in the video. PIC COUrTeSY/ aTUl KUmar On

FaCebOOK

Ajoy Mehta

Sitaram Kunte

05 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

VISHAL SINGH

vishal.singh@mid-day.com

WHILE there have been many instances of people shunning COVID-19 positive people, those needing help in Mumbai Central area have found a sav-iour in social worker Santosh Daundkar, 45, who lives at the BIT Chawl.

Daundkar, an RTI activist, has been helping neighbours and others affected by COVID-19 not just with logistical support but also moral support ever since the pandemic began. There are police quarters near Daun-dkar’s residence where con-stable rank policemen reside. As soon as Daundkar comes to know of a neighbour infected with COVID-19, he reaches out to help them by taking them to the hospital. Over 15 policemen have been taken by him to the hospital.

Daundkar reaches infect-ed people’s residences, takes them to the hospital on his two-wheeler and gets them ad-mitted. For home quarantined people, he delivers food.

“If someone is found positive, the whole family goes in men-tal shock. They need support at such times. Because in this situation, it is important to give them courage, which I try to give them,” Daundkar said.

“When a patient comes to know he has COVID-19, he gets scared and wants to reach the hospital as soon as possible. With the rising cases, there might not be enough ambu-lances. So I take them on my two-wheeler,” he said.

Rajendra Sangle, a police constable posted in the Eco-nomic Offenses Wing of the Mumbai police, is one of

Daundkar’s neighbours. Daun-dkar took Sangle to the hos-pital. “When my test results came, I did not know what to do. Daundkar took me to the hospital and even did all the paperwork. He has done more than my own brother could have done for me. I will not forget his help.” Sangle said.

Senior citizen Suresh Ga-wankar, 62, got himself test-ed at a private lab. While his health deteriorated, no one came forward to help. His only son is 18 years old and does not have a driving license. So the man called Daundkar who took him first to BYL Nair Hospital, then the COVID Care Centre at NSCI Dome and then to Grant Medical College in Charni Road, which too refused to take Gawankar saying they do not have the facility to treat diabetics. Daundkar then ap-proached ward office Prashant Gaikwad of the D Ward who helped get Gawankar admitted there itself.

Another constable, Vinod Rane, who got Daundkar’s help, said, “After my results came positive, I called Daundkar who took me to the hospital. Then my wife tested positive. So he took my mother and children to a quarantine centre.”

Good Samaritan onscooter comes torescue patients ofCOVID, their kinSantosh Daundkar dons a PPE kit and takes his neighbours to the hospital, gets them admitted and helps their family deal with the trauma

Santosh Daundkar (left); (right) kitted out in a PPE suit, mask and gloves, Daundkar takes the utmost precautions while transporting patients to hospitals on his scooter

‘If someone is found positive, the whole family goes in mental shock. They need support at such times’Santosh Daundkar

VINOD KUMAR MENON

vinodm@mid-day.com

OWING to the issues faced by families of people dying of non-COVID causes in dis-posing of the bodies, the civic body’s health department has directed that a 2010 notice be referred to in handing over these bodies. Relatives have been having a tough time procuring a ‘cause of death medical certificate’ during the pandemic, leading to trouble in disposing of the body. The civic body has, therefore, is-sued the circular that relaxes the norms for disposal of dead bodies. Forensic surgeons have, however, expressed res-ervations about this.

The executive health of-ficer, in his circular dated January 13, 2010, had stated, “Dead bodies brought with-out Cause of Death Medical Certificates to the cemeteries are disposed under the Regis-tration of Birth and Death Act, 1969. For disposal of any dead body, Cause of Death Medical Certificate is compulsory. In some cases, the relatives are not in a position to produce it since the last illness of the person was not attended to by the doctors.

“In such cases, medical officers of wards are direct-ed to follow the procedure as below: a) If the age of the deceased is 65 years or above, the body may be allowed to be disposed off on submission of panchnama by five citizens/relatives residing in nearby area and would know the de-ceased. (b) If a young adult’s body is brought without a certificate of cause of death, it will be allowed for disposal only after receiving permis-sion (NOC) from the local po-lice station.

Forensic surgeons have raised concerns about such a practice as numerous instanc-es have taken place in the past where death was certified as ‘natural’ and it later turned out to be otherwise. In cases of burial, they could be ex-humed after months/years to prove the claims, but in case of cremation, crucial evidence is lost forever.

This BMC notification is to be followed for non-COVID deaths where the body can be easily referred to the nearest post-mortem centre and an autopsy can be performed to ascertain the cause of death and rule out foul play.

“Every death needs to be tabulated for statistical med-ical references and ascertain if death was due to heart attack, cardiac ailment, any other disease, suicidal, homicidal, poisoning, accidents etc. No dead body can be disposed of without ascertaining the ‘cause of death’. Otherwise, who is responsible for issu-ing the death certificate and what is the cause of death for elders? Why can’t an autopsy be conducted? Who will be held accountable if something goes wrong?” a forensic sur-geon questioned.

The BMC health depart-ment officials allegedly is-sued the notification without consulting the police surgeon or forensic medicine and tox-icology experts.

PPE kits to autopsy staff

Police surgeon Dr S M Patil, who is in charge of five post-mortem centres in the city, said that the old practice of conducting an autopsy on any dead body brought by the police for ascertaining cause of death under section 174 of Crimi-nal Procedure Code is being

followed. “I have already di-rected my centres to conduct a post-mortem analysis and hand over the body to rela-tives after conducting the autopsy procedure within a short span of time so that relatives do not have to face any inconvenience. Also, we have provided PPE kits to postmortem centre staff and forensic surgeons. The BMC order is not applicable to my centres and it might be limit-ed to three BMC-run medical colleges — Nair, KEM and Sion,” Dr Patil said.

A senior forensic sur-geon added that getting a death certificate from any general practitioner is not easy during the pandemic. “Those who do issue them are charging exorbitant rates. Moreover, police are also reluctant to come close to bodies without being sure of the COVID status. Getting five independent witnesses is also difficult,” he said.

‘Dangerous directives’

Dr Indrajit Khandekar, pro-fessor of forensic medicine

and toxicology, Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS), Sewagram, raised questions over the powers of the executive of-ficer to “issue instructions contrary to the provisions enshrined in Law/Act.”

He said, “Permitting dis-posal without cause of death certificate is dangerous and may lead to escaping of sus-picious unnatural deaths. It will leave senior citizens vul-nerable to neglect, abuse and even murder.”

The government should, instead, consult forensic and medical experts to develop a proper protocol regarding procedures to be followed. The BMC directive is con-fusing, he said, just like the ICMR guidelines of May 10 which asked hospitals to re-cord “clinically diagnosed” or “probable” or “suspected” COVID as the underlying cause of death even when the tests were negative or await-ed.

He said that doctors have never in the past been asked to follow such practices and are instead asked to focus on “precision and specifici-ty,” while writing the cause of death. The new guidelines “will only end up inflat-ing the number of COVID deaths and could mislead the public about the actual num-ber of these deaths,” he con-cluded.

Disposing of bodieswithout cause-of-deathcertificate ‘dangerous’As BMC asks kin of non-COVID victims to follow old circular that does not require ‘cause of death certificate’, experts say it could be detrimental

The Gavanpada cremation ground at Mulund East. In some deaths, the relatives are not in a position to produce it since the last illness of the person was not attended to by the doctors. FILE PIC

2010Year the circular regarding disposing of dead bodies without cause of death certificate was first issued

FAIZAN KHAN

faizan.khan@mid-day.com

THE State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) that has been assisting the city and state police main-tain law and order while fight-ing COVID-19, have reported 774 positive cases across Maharash-tra, but good fitness and protective measures are helping the jawans recover quickly. Ac-cording to the SRPF Additional Director General (ADG), the recovery rate is 86 per cent so far, with only one casualty among them.

The SRPF has been deployed in COV-ID-affected areas to help the local police not just focus on law and order, but social distancing to stop the spread of the virus. But the companies deployed mostly

in Containment Zones are get-ting infected by the virus. As per official data from the SRPF, till Tuesday 774 jawans tested positive and 671 of them have recovered. “The jawans in all the companies are young and their fitness is better than of

members in any other forc-es and that’s why we

have such a good recovery rate,” said SRPF ADG Archana Tyagi.

After Mumbai police, SRPF has

the second highest COVID positive cas-es in Maharashtra, so their recovery is significant. Cur-rently, Mumbai

has 17 companies of SRPF which are

mainly deployed at CZs and as per the requirements

of the Mumbai Police Commis-sionerate. In Mumbai 82 SRPF

jawans have tested positive including five officers. “The jawans are being provided with the best health facilities, on ground we are providing them necessary protection such as hand sanitisers, N95 masks, face shields, etc. Only one casualty

was reported in Mumbai so far,” Tyagi added.

On June 21, a 51-year-old po-lice Sub-Inspector from Jalna group 3 died in Mumbai’s Seven Hills Hospital. He was heading the company. He was deployed in Oshiwara and stayed in ac-

commodation provided at San-tacruz police station.

Yoga sessions

The SRPF have also started online yoga sessions for the jawans, which are helping them improve their immuni-

ty and lung power. “The yoga sessions are being conducted at 10 locations in Maharashtra including Mumbai, Navi Mum-bai, Pune, Daund, Gondiya, Am-ravati, Jalna, Dhuliya, Kolhapur and Solapur districts,” an SRPF officer said. Around 1,000 men and officers are undergoing the Art of Living course online all over Maharashtra with the help of Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji. “We are getting very good results due to yoga, pranayam, Art of Living and counselling, which created positivity in the force across Maharashtra and we have a nice feedback,” the officer added.

06 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Protective measures, fitness help SRPF cops bounce backThe force, deployed in various areas across Maharashtra, to help local police personnel maintain law and order, was affected by COVID-19, but has achieved a recovery rate of 86 per cent now

SRPF jawans at a yoga session in Mumbai

‘We are getting very good results due to yoga, pra-nayam, Art of Living and counselling, which creat-ed positivity in the force across Maharashtra and we have a nice feedback’ An SRPF Officer

671 No. of those cases

that recovered

774No. of positive cases in SRPF

across the state

DIWAKAR SHARMA

diwakar.sharma@mid-day.com

THE onset of monsoon has sparked the fear of flooding in Vasai-Nalasopara-Virar which had witnessed heavy water-logging last year. Residents, already struggling amid the pandemic, said ground-floor residences were inundated and belongings worth lakhs were damaged last year.

Civic authorities claim that all big nullahs, creeks, culverts, etc. have been cleaned. The area has recently witnessed a fast proliferation of residential colonies. Sandeep Tembhkar’s ground-floor flat at Anand Dham in Krishna Township was inundated last year. “Last year, my furniture and other belong-ings were floating inside my flat. The rainwater was present for over three days. I had to get everything remade, which cost

at least R1.5 lakh. The govern-ment gave relief of only R15,000 per house,” he said

“Most of us are jobless, we cannot have another loss amid a financial crisis,” Tembhkar said.

Chairman of Anand Dham building Pradeep Suryakant Dandekar said, “I have been living here for 20 years and we never faced waterlogging. But the Sopara creek has been levelled up to make a park at Krishna Township. The distur-bance in the natural flow of the creek is causing waterlogging and flooding.”

“The building next to ours was sealed by the VVCMC af-ter a resident tested COVID-19 positive. If there is a flood this year, there will be a health and humanitarian crisis as nobody will come to help us,” Dandekar added.

“With there being a financial crisis, if it floods again, we will have no option but to commit suicide,” said Dandekar.

Kiran Sharma, a resident of Gokul Angan, said, “I incurred a loss of R3.5 lakh as my elec-tronics and furniture were de-stroyed. We moved to the ter-race but where do you answer nature’s call? We had asked the chairman and secretary of the building to construct a wash-room on the terrace but nothing has been done so far. It is very

embarrassing to knock neigh-bours’ doors to use the toilet.” Since last year, many residents have installed western toilets as Indian one’s experience sewage water rising up during flooding.

A banker, Rekha Shukla, said, “We are already scared of COV-ID-19. Now the onset of mon-soon is giving us sleepless nights.” The chairman of Neminath Tow-er Nilesh Kukadal said, “Rainwater does not enter in our compound but everything else stops. We have to stop going to work.”

NEERI suggestions ignored

The VVCMC (Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation) had roped in experts from NEERI (National Environmental Engi-neering Research Institute) but

their suggestions were not fol-lowed, alleged Milind Shivram Chavan, president of Yashashvi Foundation.

“Illegal encroachment and the illegal levelling

up of Sopara creek is the main reason behind the water-logging/flooding. The VVCMC must

be held accountable for both. An enquiry

must be held,” said Cha-van, who has been fighting

against illegal encroachment in Vasai.

“I have been suggesting VVC-MC officials since last year to construct a transit camp where people in distress can be shifted

during floods. But everything has gone unheard. No location has been identified to build a transit camp in Vasai-Virar. Last year people in distress were kept for days in a temple,” said Kiran Chendvankar, corporator from Vasai East.

Senior principal scientist of CSIR-NEERI, Mumbai, Ritesh Vijay said, “We have observed that a few areas have been encroached upon, which dis-turbed the natural course of water, there vegetation growth in drains, culverts need to be redesigned, etc. We have sub-mitted our recommendation to the civic body.”

The recommendations in-clude clearance and restora-

tion of natural watercourses, creation of additional storm-water channels, raising of the road level, construction of holding ponds as per the sanc-tioned Development Plan, in-stallation of automated gates and most importantly, instal-lation of weather stations in Vasai-Virar.

“NEERI made important recommendations in April. The total cost to execute the recommendations will come to around R300 crore. The work on the recommenda-tions of experts will be done phase-wise for which we will float tenders. Meanwhile, cleaning of drainage, culverts, etc. has been done during the lockdown and we are hopeful that there will be no flood-like situation in Vasai-Virar this year. But if it rains heavily, i.e. beyond 200 mm, coupled with a high tide, then it can cause trouble,” said Rajendra Lad, Executive Engineer of VVCMC.

358 COVID cases on Friday

On Friday, 358 new COVID-19 were detected in Vasai-Vi-rar-Nalasopara. So far, 3,000 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, out of which 1,568 have been discharged and 1,328 cases are active. With the death of three patients on Fri-day, the death toll reached 104.

R1.5LAmount Sandeep

Tembhkar spent on new furniture and

belongings

With rains at the door, memories of last year’s flood haunt Vasai-VirarResidents claim that the levelling up of a creek to build a park has been causing the looding, say cannot sufer another inancial loss

A flooded residence in Vasai-Virar last year. PICS/HANIF PATEL

The civic body has boarded up a nullah to prevent water from entering the city.

Pradeep Suryakant Dandekar, chairman, Anand Dham building.

07 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Continued from page 1

AND this with no mention of Mum-bai’s local trains that have been out of bounds for common people. Out-station trains have also been run-ning for a while now but since they are not allowed to stop at stations within Maharashtra as directed by the state government, travellers said they feel more frustrated.

“There will be chaos next month due to this. The Ganapati festival will see huge crowds going to Kon-kan. But with this type of travel ar-rangement, they will not be able to take the train and it will lead to cha-os on the highways. That’s when the government will wake up. How can the state government be so short-sighted?” activist Akshay Ma-hapadi remarked.

“Staggered opening of services and dual governance are leading to confusion on the ground. The authorities need to have a compre-hensive plan. Right now we have fractured governance with no coor-dination,” said Ajit Shenoy of Mum-bai Mobility Forum.

“You want to show that you are pro-economy by opening up but don't want to take the blame by start-ing public transportation for all. Of course, there are no easy answers. You need to formulate a policy which shall do both: reduce the number of commuters and plan for their safe commute,” public policy (transport) expert Paresh Rawal said.

Rawal added that since railway is a Central government subject, it

has started its inter-state servic-es. “Now if the Maharashtra gov-ernment is confident of managing commuter tracking then it has to ask Indian Railways to start halts within the state. The key is to be able to backtrack the movement of com-muters in case of Corona positive cases,” he added.

Railway officials said the circular dated June 25 was just about the ex-tension of cancellation of services and had nothing about local trains.

Social distancing only at stations

“Confusion outside railway sta-tions is now becoming a daily affair with lack of clarity on who exactly is allowed and who is not onboard the local trains. Many still come to the station hoping that they might

be able to take one but they are not allowed,” general secretary of Feder-ation of Suburban Railway Passen-gers’ Association Lata Argade said in a detailed appeal to Maharash-tra Chief Minister, state transport minister, health minister and state chief secretary.

She also said that there is crowd-ing inside local trains and people staying beyond Kalyan are facing many issues in the absence of local train services.

“There is demand for increasing the frequency of trains to ensure social distancing. Proper queues and protocols are being maintained at station entry points but scenes inside trains are chaotic,” passenger association member Shailesh Goyal said. There are also limitations on

running of BEST buses and free ply-ing of auto/taxis in Mumbai despite a number of activities opening up.

Task Force meeting on autos

The Maharashtra government on Friday took their first meeting of the task force with Mumbai Autom-en’s Union seeking opening up of auto-rickshaws without any condi-tions from June 28. “Since this was the first meeting, they had called for suggestions and we have recom-mended the opening of autos un-conditionally from June 28. Other demands include providing R10,000 for automen as they have been facing losses, waiver of EMIs, and release of all autos seized,” Mumbai Automen Union leader Shashank Sharad Rao, present at the meeting said.

‘Shops have opened, but how does one get to them?’

RANJEET JADHAV

ranjeet.jadhav@mid-day.com

A MUMBAI based green activist has alleged that taking advantage of the lockdown some illegal shanties have come up in near Juhu Versova Link Road adjoining the beach ahead of Rajiv Gandhi institute in Andheri West and if timely action is not taken then it will pose a threat to the man-groves cover.

Environmentalist Stalin D has written a letter to Mangroves Cell, Suburban District Collector, State Environment Department and the Mumbai Police Commissioner high-lighting the issue. It may be noted that an alert citizen and nature lover staying in the area saw the hutments being constructed, who informed Stalin about the same.

It is said that in the last two months around 10-15 hutments have been constructed along the beach and the work has been carried out system-atically and in a cautious manner so that the no one realises about the hutments being constructed.

Talking to mid-day Stalin D said, “There are some shanties that have come up in survey number 161 Juhu Versova Link Road adjoining the beach ahead of Rajiv Gandhi insti-tute, Andheri West. These shanties have come up during the lockdown and so I have sent an email to the concerned departments requesting them to remove the illegal encroach-ments and protect the mangroves before the shanties multiply. These structures have been built during the lockdown and so concerned depart-ments should file FIRs and initiate penal action against the guilty.”

In his email to the authorities, Stalin has also requested the Police Commissioner to instruct local pa-trolling on-duty policemen to pre-vent such acts by doing regular pa-trolling in the area.

During the lockdown, there have been several instances where illegal hutments have come up at various places across the city which have been highlight by environmentalists.

‘Illegal shanties mushrooming near Juhu Versova Link Road’Alleges environmentalist, who fears multiplication of such hutments will pose a threat to mangrove cover

An alert citizen saw the hutments being constructed and informed Stalin

Commuters at Churchgate station earlier this month. They say there is no social distancing inside trains. PIC/BIPIN KOKATE

FAIZAN KHAN

faizan.khan@mid-day.com

FURTHER investigation into the al-leged suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput by the Bandra police has re-vealed that before hanging himself using his green kurta, the actor tried to use a bathrobe belt to do the same but it tore off. In order to find out whether the kurta could hold his weight, the cops have sent it to the Kalina Forensic Science laboratory (FSL) for further verification.

According to sources, the Bandra police got suspicious when they saw the torn pieces of the belt lying on the floor while Sushant’s body was on the bed. Those present in the flat at the time of the incident had cut the green kurta, which he used to hang himself, from the middle after recovering his body.

“Initially, we had doubts after see-ing the torn pieces of the belt, but after a thorough inquiry we under-stood that the actor might have first tried to hang himself using the belt

but it tore off while he was checking its strength,” an officer said.

“During the spot panchnama we also learnt that his cupboard was opened and all his ironed clothes were scattered over the floor. We think after the bathrobe belt gave off, he pulled out his green kurta from the cupboard and all the other clothes fell off,” the officer added.

Sources further said that the Ka-

lina FSL would use equipment to measure tensile strength of the kurta and find out whether it could hold Sushant’s weight. It is expected to submit a detailed analysis by the end of next week.

The cops also got suspicious when the witnesses told them that his body was hanging in an inclined position. According to sources, while doing the panchnama the investigat-ing team found out that the height of the ceiling fan motor from the bed was 5 feet 11 inches and the actor’s height was 5 feet 10 inches. They also measured the height of the fan from the inclined position of the body,

which was 8 feet 1 inch.“A thorough investigation was

conducted but there is no foul play. Even the post-mortem report con-firmed that there was no sign of struggle and even the circumstanc-es suggest that he hanged himself in an inclined position,” the officer further added.

The forensic team from the toxi-cology department would also con-duct a chemical analysis test to find out whether he had consumed any toxic substance.

Meanwhile, the Bandra police re-corded the statements of two former employees of Yash Raj films produc-tion. They are the signatories in the contract signed by Sushant in 2012. The investigating team didn’t reveal much about the statements but said they were important to ascertain if there was any professional rivalry. “So far we have received the state-ments of 25 people in connection with the actor’s death and further investigation is on,” said Abhishek Trimukhe, DCP Zone IX.

Did Sushant try to hang self with bathrobe belt first?Cops say the actor might have first tried it but it tore; he then used green kurta by which he was found hanging

Former Yash Raj Films manager, Ashish Singh at Bandra police station to record his statement. PIC/PRADEEP DHIVAR

‘A thorough investigation was conducted but there is no foul play. Even the post-mortem report confirmed that there was no sign of struggle and even the circumstances suggest that he hanged himself in an inclined position’ A police officer

08 CITY mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

DHARMENDRA JORE

dharmendra.jore@mid-day.com

AFTER his letter to the Prime Minis-ter for postponing medical students’ final year post-graduation examina-tion in view of the Coronavirus out-break became public, CM Uddhav Thackeray has appealed Narendra Modi to instruct apex regulatory bodies to approve of Maharashtra government’s proposal of cancelling final year/semester examinations of all professional courses.

Last week, the state gave the final year students of professional and

non-professional courses the option to write examinations whenever it was held or take a degree based on a formula to be decided by univer-sities.

In one of their video conferences this month, Thackeray had request-ed the PM to have uniform guide-lines in respect of cancellation of exams and he reiterated in a letter that the present atmosphere was not conducive to conduct examinations or classes in educational institutes.

Thackeray wrote to PM on Thurs-day asking for influencing the All India Council for

Technical Education (AICTE), Coun-cil for Architecture (COA), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Bar Council of India (BCI), the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) and National Council for Hotel Man-agement and Catering Technology (NCHMCT). These regulatory apex bodies must endorse the decision to give validity to the degrees to be awarded.

“I request you to instruct the national-level apex authorities to endorse the decision of the state government regarding cancellation of final year/final semester exami-nations of professional courses and to issue necessary guidelines to uni-versities in this regard,” Thackeray said, adding that students and par-ents were concerned about the final year/semester examinations of the academic year 2019-20 and com-

mencement of the next academic year because of the prevailing

Coronavirus crisis in Mum-bai Metropolitan Region and the rest of Mahar-

ashtra.

CM seeks PM’s help

to scrap professional

degree exams nowUddhav Thackeray through a letter reiterates present atmosphere isn’t conducive to examinations or classes in educational institutes

‘I request you to instruct the national-level apex authorities to endorse the decision of the state government on cancellation of final year/final semester exams of professional courses’ Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray

DHARMENDRA JORE

dharmendra.jore@mid-day.com

THE Congress staged a silent protest against the Union government and paid tributes to the army personnel who laid their lives in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese forces on Friday. Later in the day, the leaders asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi some uncomfortable questions over the handling of the Indo-China bor-der issue while they participated in the online campaign #SpeakUpForO-urJawans.

Former CM Prithviraj Chavan led the charge accusing the PM of telling lies at the all-party meeting. “The PM’s statement that China did not occupy the Indian land or intrude has damaged the country more than anything. It has helped China in con-solidating its position on the interna-tional platform and also weakened our scope of negotiating with the troublesome neighbour. In fact, I’m told that the Indian PM has become very popular in China,” said Chavan while addressing a media conference at the party's Fort office.

Chavan, who also worked as a min-ister in-charge of the Manmohan Singh-led PMO said his former boss’

has advised the incumbent PM that he should be mindful of the implica-tions of his words and cannot allow China to use them as a vindication of its position. “Was it that Mr Modi didn’t want to upset his friend (by saying the truth), the Chinese pres-ident who has met 18-19 times so far and hosted him in Gujarat?” said Chavan.

The former CM sought to know how many times the Chinese intru-sion happened in the Galwan valley since April and May 2020 and also asked for a status quo report as claimed by the PM. He demanded

transparency in information rather than disinformation than allegedly upset the spirit of the nation and its armed forces. Chavan wanted the PM to speak on the latest reports and satellite imagery that suggests that China has deployed 10,000 troops, artillery regiment, vehicles and con-structed tents and bridges in the river bed.

State Congress president Balasa-heb Thorat said the Modi govern-ment had failed in securing Indian border with China, and added that the party's state-wide silent protest had received.

HEMAL ASHAR

hemal@mid-day.com

THERE are some people who you think may somehow defy mortality; who will never go gentle into that good night.

Indian war hero Squadron Leader (retd) Parvez Rustom Jamasji, 77, who flew sorties into East Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and sustained a bullet wound in his leg, was one of them. Jamasji passed away on Friday, but he leaves behind stories of valour that all those silver trophies and medals of bravery, kept safe inside the wooden showcase of his Dadar Parsi Colony home, hold close to their heart.

Vir Chakra

A helicopter pilot, Jamasji’s courage was acknowledged with the Vir Chakra in 1972. The Maharashtra government had also feted him with the Gaurav Pu-raskar. The pilot, who sat smiling bea-tifically when this reporter met him for an interview last year, had a soldier’s gait even though he walked with the help of a stick. In fact, he wore his leg injury with the same pride he pinned on the numerous gallantry medals on his shirt. He was injured in a mission in the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

At war

Last year, India and Pakistan stood on the edge of a precipice when we had just launched ‘surgical strikes’ inside the territory of our neighbouring na-tion and Indian pilot Wing Command-er Abhinandan Varthaman had been captured in Pakistan. Speaking on the situation then, Jamasji had told mid-day, “Every country has Prisoners of War.” He insisted that we were and had

been at war for years, in reference to the Kashmir conflict.

“When a nation loses five of its sol-diers on an average and is left with five widows every day, then plain and simple, the nation is at war,” he had ex-plained. With complete belief, Jamasji had added, “India needs to strike with full force now, otherwise, we go back to a situation where our men contin-ue to die every day, in some so-called skirmish or fire fight and we continue to have widows. These widows will one day start questioning, ‘if we are not at war, why did my husband die’?”

Special frontier

Jamasji had transported hundreds of soldiers of the Special Frontier Forc-es into the enemy territory in a Mi-4 Russian helicopter when he was sta-tioned at Dimagiri, on the border of Mizoram and then in East Pakistan. He had earned the label, ‘The Tiger of the Assam sector’, for his feats. When asked what went through his mind decades ago, on his daredevil missions, he laughed and said, “Thoughts? What thoughts? There is no time to think!”

He had then posed against his tro-phy cupboard, wearing his medals that were adjusted to perfection by his wife and son, for photographs for this newspaper. While he didn’t give profound philosophical quotes, the simplicity with which he wore his acco-lades left one in awe. The air was awash with respect and reverence, and we felt fortunate to have met him, as we left his home in the leafy environs of the city’s upscale residential precinct.

Rest In Peace, ‘Tiger of the Assam Sector’, the soil of India is still wet with the blood you and so many of your ilk have shed.

An Air Force officer hands over a tricolour to his wife as Squadron Leader (retd) Parvez Rustom Jamasji is cremated with full military honours, at Doongerwadi on Friday

‘The Tiger of the Assam Sector’ roars no moreWar hero Jamasji passes away, leaving behind a legacy of valour and wisdom we must heed in these times

State Congress seeks answers from the PM over ChinaFormer Maharashtra CM asks Modi to be mindful of the implications of his words

Balasaheb Thorat and former CM Prithviraj Chavan address media against PM’s misleading statements on China standoff, in Colaba on Friday. PIC/SURESH KARKERA

09 NATION mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

New Delhi: The number of COVID-19 cases in India in-creased by a record 17,296 in 24 hours for the first time on Friday pushing the total tally to 4,90,401, over half of which have been reported from 10 cities and districts, accord-ing to Union Health Ministry data. The death toll climbed to 15,301 with 407 new fatalities. This was the seventh day in a row that India registered over 14,000 cases.

Delhi, Chennai, Thane, Mumbai, Palghar, Pune, Hy-derabad, Ranga Reddy, Ah-medabad and Faridabad are 10 districts and cities that reported a larger number of COVID-19 cases between June 19 and June 25, contributing to 54.47 per cent of the total caseload, a health ministry official said.

Between June 1 and June 26, the country witnessed 2,99,866 cases. However, the number of recoveries have overtaken the active cases by 96,173, the health ministry said. The number of active cases stands at 1,89,463. In a day, 13,940 COVID-19 patients have been cured, taking the cumulative figure of recover-ies to 2,85,636.

Agencies

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday permitted the Centre and the CBSE to cancel the re-maining board examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and gave the go-ahead to its scheme to award marks to stu-dents for the cancelled papers scheduled to be held in July.

A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar, Dinesh Mahesh-wari and Sanjiv Khanna per-mitted the CBSE to issue the notification for the cancella-tion of examinations.

The bench after perusing the notification of CBSE al-lowed the board to issue it and said that Std X and XII exams of CBSE scheduled for July 1-15 will be governed by this order. During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, ap-pearing for the Centre and the CBSE, said that the assessment scheme will consider marks achieved by students in last three papers of board exams.

The counsel for ICSE board told the top court that it has more or less the same scheme as that of CBSE but it has a different averaging formula and may consider conducting re-exams for Std X. The ICSE board said that a notification in this regard will be issued with-in one week and would be up-loaded on its website. Both the CBSE and ICSE boards told the top court that the results of the Std X and XII exams can be de-clared by mid of July. Agencies

Thimphu: Bhutan rejected me-dia reports claiming that it has stopped the supply of irriga-tion water to farmers in Assam, terming them “totally baseless” and a “deliberate attempt” by vested interests to cause mis-understanding with India.

In a statement, Bhutan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that since June 24, 2020, there have been several news arti-cles published in India alleging

that Bhutan has blocked water channels that supply irriga-tion water to Indian farmers in Baksa and Udalguri districts in Assam adjoining the country’s Samdrup Jongkhar district.

“This is a distressing alle-gation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to clarify that the news articles are totally baseless as there is no reason why the flow of wa-

ter should be stopped at this time,” it said. “It is a deliberate attempt by vested interests to spread misinformation and cause misunderstanding be-tween the friendly people of Bhutan and Assam,” the min-istry said. Bhutan’s statement came hours after Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Kr-ishna, in a tweet, termed the media reports as incorrect. Agencies

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty (second from right) participates in a cycle rally towards Indian Oil Corporation Eastern Region headquarters during a protest against hike in fuel price, in Kolkata, on Friday. piC/pTi

Guwahati to be under

14-day lockdown

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a 12-hour night curfew will be imposed across the state from 7 pm onwards on Friday and a 14-day complete lockdown will be enforced in Kamrup (Metro) district, of which Guwahati city is a part, from June 28 midnight, following a spurt in COVID-19 cases. Guwahati has reported 762 cases since June 15, and 677 of them have no travel history, though many had come in contact with those who returned to the state.

BROWSERTake nation into confidence: Sonia

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said the central government cannot shirk its responsibility of securing our borders with China and asked PM Narendra Modi to take the nation into confidence on the situation in Ladakh.

CRPF jawan, minor killed in militant attackSriNagar: A CRPF jawan and a minor boy were killed when militants attacked a security forces team in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, police said. The militants fired upon a road opening party of the CRPF 90 battalion near Padshahi Bagh bridge in the Bijbehara area of south Kashmir district around noon, a police officer said.

Monsoon has covered entire country: IMDNew Delhi: The Southwest Monsoon has covered the entire country nearly two weeks ahead of its schedule, the IMD said on Friday. The monsoon usually sets over Kerala on June 1 and it takes 45 days to reach Sriganganagar in west Rajasthan.

AIADMK faces flak over lock-up deathsCheNNai: The DMK targeted the AIADMK government over the death of a father-son duo after alleged torture by the police in Tuticorin district, accusing it of allowing the personnel to take “law into their own hands”.

Deliberate attempt to cause misunderstanding with India, says BhutanRejects media reports that it has stopped the supply of irrigation water to farmers in Assam

‘Bhutan shares a border with a district in Assam. There is a normal channel through which the water flows into Indian fields. The water was stopped because there were boulders in the channel. The district magistrates of both the sides talked and the issue was resolved’ Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Assam chief secretaryA woman collects drinking water from a well, in Morigaon, Assam. piC/pTi

India’s recoveries overtake active cases by 96,173In a day, 13,940 COVID-19 patients have been cured, taking the number of recoveries to 2,85,636

SC approves CBSE’s scheme to give marks for cancelled examinations

‘situation in delhi under control, don’t worry’

Fir over morphed

teachers’ pictures

Acting on a complaint by a leading school in the state, Goa Police registered an FIR against unknown persons for morphing pictures of teachers taken during online teaching sessions and posting them on social media. “We received a complaint on Thursday from a school in Panaji, alleging that some pictures were morphed and put on social media with derogatory remarks,” Goa Crime Branch Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar told the media in Panaji on Friday.

‘uP cM helped

save 85,000 lives’

Showering praise on Yogi Adityanath for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the vast preparations made by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister saved at least 85,000 lives, something that was unthinkable before 2017. Modi further said Adityanath managed to turn the epidemic into an opportunity.

Modi launches the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyaan on Friday. piC/pTi

arviND Kejriwal,

Delhi chief minister

‘Number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi is high but the sit-uation is under control and there is no need to worry. We’ve increased testing by three times but positive cas-es have increased by around 3,000 per day only. 45,000 patients have recovered’

B S YeDiYurappa,

Karnataka chief minister

‘There is no question of imposing lockdown for any reason. In some areas (with high case load) we have already implemented lockdown, other than those places there is no question of it being implemented in other places’

‘teachers no less

than coVid warriors’

Teachers are being deployed on COVID-19 duty and can be equated to Coronavirus warriors, despite that they are deprived of their salaries since March, said the Delhi HC on Friday while lamenting at the authority in the capital which has not paid salaries to them since lockdown was imposed. “This is a sorry state of affairs,” observed a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad.

15,301Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India

COVID-19TICKER

TOTAL NO. OF CASES IN INDIA AS OF NOW

4,90,401

10 WORLD mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Minneapolis council votes to abolish policeMinneapolis: The Minneapolis City Council votes on Friday on a proposal to change the city charter to allow elimination of the city’s police department, a radical move supported by a majority of the council after George Floyd’s death but far from assured.

The vote is one step in a pro-cess that faces significant bu-reaucratic obstacles to make the November ballot, where the city’s voters would have the final say. And it comes amid a spate of recent shootings in Minnesota’s largest city that have heightened many citizens’ concerns about talk of disman-tling the department.

The amendment say the di-rector of the new agency would have “non-law-enforcement experience in community safety services, including... restorative justice approaches.” Agencies

Salwa Ibrahim, a five-year-old girl suffering from acute malnutrition and weighing three kg, in Yemen. piC/aFp

‘20mn have had virus in US’US health officials say the nation has roughly 10 times as many cases as the 2.3 million COVID-19 infections confirmed so far; America on Thursday reports its highest ever one-day spike in casesWashington: US officials esti-mate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the novel Coronavirus since it first arrived in the US. Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 mil-lion cases that have been con-firmed. The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the pandemic as about a dozen states are seeing worri-some increases in cases.

Previously, Centres for Dis-ease Control and Prevention-officials and the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said 25 per cent of infected people might not have symptoms.

The new estimate is based on CDC studies of blood samples collected nationwide. Redfield said more younger people are getting infected today and they are not as likely to develop seri-ous illness or die from infection.

On Thursday, the number of new daily cases in the US hit an all-time high of 40,000, in a resurgence that has led some governors to backtrack or at least pause the reopening of their states, including Arizona, Texas and Florida.

$1.4bn relief aid went to dead

Nearly 1.1 million pandemic relief payments totalling some $1.4 billion mistakenly went to dead people, the Government Accountability Office said. The IRS didn’t use death records to prevent payments to deceased people for the first three batch-es of payments, it said. Agencies

Cairo: Millions of children could be pushed to the brink of starvation as the pandemic sweeps across war-torn Yemen amid a “huge” drop in humani-tarian aid funding, the UN chil-dren’s agency warned on Friday.

The stark prediction comes in a new UNICEF report, “Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19.” It said the num-ber of malnourished Yemeni children could reach 2.4 million by the end of 2020, a 20 per cent increase in the current figure.

“As Yemen’s devastated health system and infrastruc-

ture struggle to cope with coronavirus, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably,” warned UNICEF.

Yemen’s poor health care in-frastructure is unprepared to battle the pandemic after five years of war between a Sau-di-led military coalition and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The war, which has mostly stalemated, has also triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The situation in Yemen is only expected to get worse as donor countries recently cut back on aid.

“If we do not receive urgent funding, children will be pushed to the brink of starvation and many will die,” said Sara Bey-solow Nyanti, UNICEF’s repre-sentative to Yemen. The coun-try’s actual COVID-19 tally is believed to be much higher as testing capabilities are severely limited. Agencies

Nurses transfer a COVID-19 patient to the Critical Patients Unit at a hospital in Santiago, Chille. piC/aFp

‘It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible. Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 more infections’ Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Lack of leadership in tackling COVID-19, says Bill GatesMICROSOFT founder Bill

Gates on Thursday called as ‘completely false’ the White House and Donald Trump’s claim that the increase in number of infections is be-cause the US is testing more people, reported CNN.

He said the US administra-tion is “not even close” to tack-ling the pandemic efficiently and that there was a lack of leadership in fighting the virus. “It’s possible to ramp up testing for a new pathogen very, very fast. In fact a number of countries did that extremely well and the tech-nology keeps getting bet-

ter there. The US in particular hasn’t had the leadership mes-sages or coordination that you would have expected,” CNN quoted him as saying.

He pointed out that sever-al Americans are “ignoring the epidemic”. “Some people almost feel like it’s a political thing which is unfortunate.”

On vaccine, Gates said the main hurdle is building con-fidence among the public to

take it. Scientists won’t have enough time for trial of the vaccines due to the urgency, he said, adding, “It’s a challenge to get that safety data-

base to build up the confi-dence.”

2.4 million Yemeni children may starve in 6 months

2.3MILLIONTotal no. of COVID-19 cases the US govt has confirmed as of Thursday

40,000No. of new cases the US reported on Thursday — its highest one-day tally

Six potential drug

targets identified

Scientists have identified a unique pattern of six molecules that could be used as therapeutic targets. Using artificial intelligence to validate their results, they found the inflammation profiling was able to predict the presence of virus in critically ill patients with 98 per cent accuracy. In another study, scientists have found the timing of antibody test is critical to detect the infection in a patient.

Many 13 yrs+ be

tested in Singapore

Singapore will start testing from July 1 all individuals aged 13 years and above with symptoms of acute respiratory infection for COVID-19 to quickly isolate the confirmed cases. The decision came as the nation was witnessing a surge in the cases, with 219 new on Friday.

US admin urges SC

to end Obamacare

Amid the pandemic, the Trump administration on Thursday urged the Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Some 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage, and protections for people with preexisting health conditions would also be put at risk if the court agrees in its fall hearing.

Yemen has officially

recorded over 1,000

CoViD-19 cases, including

275 deaths

Pride agitators seeking virus aid arrestedManila: Philippine police arrested 20 protesters who marked the Global Pride event with a march on Friday to de-mand government aid for poor workers and drivers displaced by a COVID-19 lockdown.

Manila police spokesman Lt. Col. Carlo Manuel said the 20 protesters staged a march and rally at a historic bridge near the presidential palace without a permit and defied orders when they tried to flee after being ac-costed. About 30 other protest-ers managed to flee, he said.

Rey Salinas of the Bahaghari protest group, who was among those arrested, told AP “They initially can’t tell us what we violated. They said we were not observing physical distancing but that’s not true.” Agencies

Cops arrest protesters. piC/aFp

piC/aFp

11 mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

comment Asking questions is the first way to begin change — Kubra

Sait, actress and model

ThoughT for The Day

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have your say!

There are several takeaways from a report in this paper cit-ing how Dr Vasant Shenoy, for-

mer president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and well known General Physician (GP) is recovering from COVID-19. The first is the hav-oc that rumours on social media can wreak. The report states how gossip mills went into overdrive about Dr Shenoy, saying he had passed away, while all the while he was alive, bat-tling COVID-19 in a hospital in the western suburbs.

His family was peppered with con-dolence messages. They had to actu-ally issue a common message to all that Dr Shenoy was very much alive. All this was happening while they were battling with the stress that comes with a family member being afflicted.

This once again proves how impor-tant it is to check and double-check the credibility and veracity of these messages spinning madly on the COVID-19 carousel. This informa-tion, though false, leading to condo-

lence messages, must have proved extremely irksome for loved ones, already under tremendous strain. Rash forwards, however harmless, or supposedly informative are al-ways counterproductive. The other takeaway is the fact that even this doctor’s family found it difficult to get a hospital bed. They had to use the local MLA’s influence to get a bed and finally, to get a specific medicine needed to treat his condition.

One can imagine the plight of an ordinary person, with no strings to

pull, if a former president and secre-tary of the Indian Medical Associa-tion, with a family of doctors, needed influence to get a bed.

All the nightmare stories about desperate families frantically look-ing for ambulances or hospital beds resonate even more now. Try to make this process smoother for the com-mon man. We hear reassuring noises from the government but obviously, this scenario remains unchanged. Ur-gent addressing of this, and redressal needed, leaders.

Despite assurances, health services are dismal

Govts should never be criticised

Not too long ago, one of our state governments issued an order calling for a complete

gag on anyone speaking against its functioning. Two days later, it clarified that the order was aimed at curbing fake news, not criticism. The clarification must have been forced by annoying journalists who, like vultures, have an annoying hab-it of asking questions. One of them must have confronted a minister, or a high-ranking police officer must have stumbled upon a meme on WhatsApp poking fun at the order, thereby forcing an explanation.

I have always believed that govern-ments should never be questioned because this damages democracy. I would never dream of asking any minister questions, because I have yet to find one who doesn’t work tirelessly, day and night, in the pur-suit of turning India into Shanghai.

A gag order would be wasted on me, given that I have never had any reason to criticise the government of my state. I understand that, with-out this government, and the 18-odd governments before it, I wouldn’t have running water for two hours every day. My building has under-ground tanks that store this water, offering it to me at all hours, but the largesse of those first magical hours come from the government, for which I have always been grateful. If people do not have running water through the day, the blame lies on a lack of underground tanks rath-er than the government. Everyone knows tanks are the problem.

I have also been full of praise for the infrastructure of my fair city. The roads function beautifully during lockdowns, and I can never fathom why drivers complain of potholes when I recognise them as part of an exercise in aesthetics. Why have smooth roads like every developed country on Earth when we can add a bit of the texture and nuance of India

to them? Why accept smooth when, like our beautiful saris, we can have roads that twist and turn in unnat-ural ways, with ridges and plateaus to surprise us?

Look at the innumerable mon-uments put up to please our tired eyes. There is a large butterfly in Andheri, for instance, that forces locals to stop and contemplate the mysteries of life whenever they walk past it. It makes them glad that their taxes are used to remind them that butterflies exist and should be celebrated. Another public hospital

would be nice, obviously, but butter-flies made of grass have the poten-tial to attract tourists in much the same way that China’s Great Wall always has.

We also have Good Governance Day for a reason. Some cynics are annoyed that it occurs on the same day as the less well-known festi-val of Christmas, but I have always believed that worshipping former Prime Ministers is a lot better than worshipping gods or goddesses. We are blessed to be in a country where it is often hard to tell ministers apart

from demigods, so I look forward to dressing up on that day and wishing family and friends. Most of them don’t know of the existence of Good Governance Day, but I hope a sig-nificant amount of our taxes will be used over the coming years to rectify that issue.

Criticism of governments dam-ages democracy in all kinds of ways because I believe it introduces dan-gerous ideas to the public. Take free-dom of speech, for instance. How would our country prosper if we were allowed to say what we felt like, and ask elected representatives to work for us instead of themselves? Everyone knows that representa-tives who work for themselves are happier and more productive, en-abling them to eventually work for us after their third or fourth terms. To criticise a government is easy be-cause we are not in positions of pow-er and have no idea how difficult it is to focus on things like healthcare, infrastructure and basic amenities while struggling to play politics. We have no idea how difficult it is to make ends meet as ministers of Parliament, struggling to survive on subsidised meals.

I think students should be taught to praise the government at an ear-ly age, to help them become adults who applaud rather than complain. It is only by constantly praising our ministers and allowing them to function without accountabili-ty that we can be a strong country. We may not have good roads, great public healthcare, or high standards of hygiene, but we have a city that managed to rename itself and, if that is not a sign of great governance, what is?

Why have smooth roads like every developed country on Earth when we can add a bit of the texture and nuance of India to them?. FILE PIC

Lindsay Pereira

BREAKING BAD

When he isn’t ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira

Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper

LETTERSUnlock 1.0 has brought its

own set of problems

Apropos ‘Kandivli colony slammed for its maids’ policy’, almost every housing society across the city has barred the entry of domestic helps and other household staff on their premises despite the state government relaxing certain lockdown norms. Now, with the rising number of cases, it does not appear that these services are likely to be resumed in the near future. For Maharashtra, letting the public loose is backfiring on the govt in a big way.

ramanI SubramanIam

Is Uddhav afraid of

facing the governor?

With reference to ‘Uddhav writes to PM, wants doctors’ PG exam delayed’, it is amusing to see the CM jumping the gun and writing directly to the prime minister while the matter is under the purview of the governor, who is the Chancellor of all universities in the state. It seems that after antagonising the governor through their mouthpiece Saamna, the Shiv Sena leadership is shy about facing him.

SudhaKar ShEnoy

Allowing salons to

reopen a bad idea

This refers to ‘Oxygen, ventilator beds availability also low’. The state govt’s decision to re-open salons from next week at a time when hospitals are struggling to admit patients seems premature. The decision may have been tilted towards these establishments as lakhs of people were employed in these professions, but people’s health should override all other considerations. Prevention is always better than a cure.

S n Kabra

Asking questions disturbs ministers tirelessly working for India and can damage democracy, which is why it should never be encouraged

Look at the innumerable monuments put up to please our tired

eyes. There is a large butterfly in andheri, for instance, that

forces locals to stop and contemplate the mysteries of life

whenever they walk past it. It makes them glad that their taxes

are used to remind them that butterflies exist and should be

celebrated. another public hospital would be nice, obviously, but

butterflies made of grass have the potential to attract tourists in

much the same way that China’s Great Wall always has.

UMA RAMASUBRAMANIAN

uma@mid-day.com

Right after the release of thappad in February, di-rector Anubhav Sinha had begun work on his next. the yet-untitled action thriller was to mark his reunion with Ayushmann Khurrana after Article 15 (2019). While he had originally hoped to shoot the film abroad, he was com-pelled to rework his plans as

several countries went into lockdown in March.

“i was in the process of fi-nalising the location abroad when COViD-19 [broke out]. So, we thought shooting in india would be safer and start-ed scouting for locations here. We were supposed to shoot from April to June. however, i returned from the recce on March 8, and soon after, we went into lock-down,” recounts Sinha. Even as sev-eral filmmakers are considering return-ing to work, the d i r e c t o r will take

his time before resuming his place behind the camera. “As filmmakers, we get so ab-sorbed in getting the right shot that we tend to ignore the precautions. that is not healthy. So, i am not bullish about shooting anytime soon.”

Meanwhile, he is thrilled about the television premiere

of taapsee Pannu-led thappad on Zee Cinema.

Sinha hopes the film will reach a wider au-dience through televi-sion. “the film is made for women, but so many homemakers don’t go to theatres. i am look-

ing forward to their reaction.”

mid-daySaturday

27.06.2020

12shades of beauty »P13

Continued from page 01

BY movie-market definition, a star is someone who green-lights scripts, unlocks the budget potential of a project. And gets a big film on the floors. Why? Because the star, by vir-tue of a fan-base, or captive au-dience, ensures that people will give the product a shot, on Day One of its screening. So, some part of the financial risk is cov-ered. What happens thereafter, of course, depends on the word-of-mouth that follows the early/weekend shows.

Match my analogy for a sec-ond. And you’ll realise that pop-ular streaming giants — like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Zee5, or Disney+hotstar — per-form precisely the same main-streaming role for a script as a traditional star. Even more so in the current COViD-19 scenario, where cinemas/multiplexes as an entertainment window no longer exist — although one hopes that’s an extremely tem-porary situation.

Farrell heads internation-al Originals at Amazon Prime Video. Working out of LA, he’s the final green-lighting au-thority for Amazon’s shows in india. those creative decisions and mainstream movie budgets based on stories, and scripts

alone — rather than the cast attached, or interested financi-ers thereby (or traditional Bolly-wood, so to say).

Unsure of what he makes of my ‘Ott, the new star’ analogy. Farrell should be glad that all his Amazon Original series in 2020 have been warmly received by captive audiences on his plat-form/fan-base.

And the shows couldn’t have been more diverse from each other: Four More Shots Please was the indian ‘Sex and the City’ womance, upping the ante as a sequel. Panchayat — a warm, coming-of-age drama, set in a village in Uttar Pradesh, without any guns/vi-olence involved — something Bollywood would never touch with a box-office pole. And, Paatal Lok — perhaps the most delightful yet disturb-ing, deliriously dark, indian crime-thriller ever!

All these showed up back-to-back, like precious gifts deliv-ered home by Amazon. While india, like most of the world, was under lockdown — des-perate for distraction from a ‘groundhog day’! these three shows equal over 15 hours of life. Plus, there was the first sea-son of the Forgotten Army, that dropped earlier this year, rais-ing the bar on scale for an indian war-drama. in terms of quality, they pit Amazon Prime, argua-bly, if not convincingly ahead of all its competitors in india.

the fact that they’ve got it right across genres makes one wonder, seriously, what’s the strategy?

Continued on page 14

Boss is running late The name is James

Even as 30 contestants have been shortlisted through online auditions, Salman’s Bigg Boss delayed by almost a month; inmates to be tested before being allowed into the house

UPALA KBR

hitlist@mid-day.com

MANY wondered if Salman Khan’s popular show Bigg Boss would find a place in the post-COViD world — af-ter all, its theme of contest-ants living under one roof is at odds with social distanc-ing, which is the need of the hour. As it turns out, the makers of Bigg Boss 14 are gearing up for the next sea-son with the superstar host. the reality show, which usually kicks off in the first week of October, will be de-layed by a month owing to the pandemic and the sub-sequent lockdown.

“While the show had started on October 1 last year, this time around, the shoot is likely to begin from the last week of October,” reveals a source, adding

that the upcoming season will have a jungle theme. Earlier this month, the pro-duction house started the online registration, followed by online auditions to zero in on the contestants. “the participants will be a mix of celebrities and commoners. the team has shortlisted 30 people, of which 16 will en-ter the Bigg Boss house.”

Even as the channel and the production house will adopt the necessary safety

measures, the rules of the game — from tasks to wild card entries — will appar-ently remain unchanged. “the 16 contestants, com-prising 13 celebrities and

three commoners, will be tested for COViD-19 before being sent inside the house. the set as well as the items inside the house will be sanitised. the set will be constructed at Film City, and Salman will travel from his Bandra residence for the shoot. Only on Saturdays, will he be at his chalet,” adds the source. the adherence to safety precautions be that as may, social distancing will remain a cause of concern. “it’s about 16 people staying under the same roof, eating the same food and sharing a common toilet. how can so-cial distancing be practised in such a scenario?”

Colors tV remained una-vailable for comment.

anubhav sinha on how he had to call of foreign

schedule of his next with ayushmann due to pandemic

‘Thought shooting in India would be safer’

that’s the man from La, responsible for around 20 hours of fresh, quality entertainment, while we’ve been holed up at home past few months!

‘We haven’t produced films in India because we have good relations with [Bollywood studios]’

the contestants on bigg boss 13

PIC/NIKUL GALA

a still from Paatal Lok

October 1 last year. This time around, it may begin from the last week of October’ A source

‘The show had started on

On Friday, Arjun

Kapoor

turned 35. Ladylove Malaika

Arora referred to the birthday boy as ‘sunshine’. She shared his pictures on social media and wished him. Last year, the two had taken off for Maldives to celebrate his big day. Malla had made their relationship Insta official by sharing their loved-up picture from the getaway. She had referred to Kapoor as “crazy, insanely funny and amazing.”

Anushka Sharma’s brother Karnesh has been spelling his surname as Ssharma (with a double S). We assume he did so at a numerologist’s behest. A star sister and cricket icon Virat Kohli as brother-in-law, Karnesh is making sure his name adds up to a success number. As co-producer of NH 10 (2015), Phillauri (2017), Pari (2018), Paatal Lok and Bulbbul, the number game matters.

Better protected Only approved followers can now read Sonam K Ahuja’s tweets. The actor has changed her social media handle setting to private mode. Her decision stems from the fact that she has been receiving a barrage of vitriolic messages after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. Kapoor was called out for her tweet about the blame game after the actor ended his life. She was also trolled for her comments about him in a chat show and for being favoured as she is Anil Kapoor’s daughter in the nepotism debate. Though she hit back, the hateful messages did not stop. Kapoor has decided to secure her tweets for a while from trolls.

have you heard?14 mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Rajniesh Duggall, Krushna Abhishek, Raju Srivastava, Urvashi Dholakia and Mugdha Godse have come together for the track Jai Hind, jai Bharat to laud the efforts of frontline warriors

spotted

Gabriella Demetriades has been up and about ever since lockdown restrictions were eased. She walks her pet pooch daily at Carter Road, Bandra. PIC/PRADEEP DHIVAR

There’s nothing that can stop Anil Kapoor from working out daily. Now that he can step out, he has been going through the grind at the Jamnabai Narsee School ground, Juhu. PIC/SHADAB KHAN

teLLY tAttLe

Long time,no seeFitness-conscious Arjun Bijlani has been cycling from his Lokhandwala home to Bandra Bandstand as part of his workout regime. He bumped into Ishq Mein Marjawan co-star Nia Sharma, who is also a fitness freak. As the duo was catching up after months due to the lockdown, they had lots to talk about. But where are their masks?

have you heard?13 mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

There’s lots in a name

Celebrating the diversity of beautyAbhay Deol, who openly denounced Bollywood stars endorsing fairness creams, has described a multinational’s decision to delete ‘fair’ from its range of products, as a “small step in the right direction.” On Friday, in an Instagram post, Deol wrote, “It took a world backlash and the Black Lives Matter movement to give us a

push in this direction.” Bipasha Basu also took to social media to share her experiences about being referred

to as ‘dusky’. She wrote, “There was a strong mindset of how an

actress should

look. I

was different, but it did not stop me from doing all that I loved. My skin colour didn’t define me.” Richa Chadha posted, “It took me many years of unlearning to gain confidence and start loving my complexion. I hope mindsets change.” Suhana Khan also took to Instagram stories to hail and repost the news.

Fuelling a controversyAmitabh Bachchan’s eight-year-old tweet, which took on the rising fuel prices during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as PM, is doing the rounds of social media. As petrol and diesel prices are reaching a new high in the last few days, netizens are questioning Big B’s silence. On Friday, state housing minister Jitendra Awhad asked the veteran superstar if he checks the petrol bills. In 2012, Big B had posted that Mumbaikars can now afford only a few litres and that, too, to burn their cars. Awhad added, “It’s time to speak up... hope you’re not biased. Should Mumbaikars drive their cars or burn them now (sic)?”

PAYINGTRIBUTE

Malaika’s sunshine

Abhishek Bachchan was spotted outside a Juhu studio where he is dubbing for his web debut, Breathe: Into the Shadows. PIC/SHADAB KHAN

14 HITLIST mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day

READ IN TOMORROW’S ISSUE

THERE’S MORE

Love Commandos turns 10,

vows to always fight for love

Why is a designer giving makeovers to celeb’s used jeans?

Head to a

virtual pride

party

Chefs create

recipes

using India’s

favourite

biscuit,

Parle-G

Continued from page 12

Strategy is the same everywhere. India is the best example,” says Farrell. “[as a service], we’re lucky to be bundled as part of amazon Prime. We’re not a standalone video/music app. We don’t have to create a large volume, or hours [of content]. Somebody’s going to avail of other benefits on Prime as well. this gives us the time to focus on quality. So long as we can present one great show a month, we’re super happy. you don’t have that kind of lux-ury, if you’re a broadcaster, or a stand-alone streaming service.”

Of course the Indian market with its own mul-tiple languages allows for greater depth, something Farrell says he’s exploring, “ramping up teams for ta-mil, telugu [content].” Note that content in amazon’s case essentially means se-ries. Unlike Netflix and oth-ers that also roll out a bunch of original films, as against acquired productions alone.

Farrell says, “the reason we haven’t produced films in India in a real sense is because we have such good relations with [Bollywood’s big production houses] yash raj, excel, t-Series, Dhar-ma and all these folks. We license their films, right af-ter theatrical release. We’re happy with that. Producers and theatre owners are hap-py with that too.”

It’s a win-win, yes. Just not sure about the rela-tionship between theatre owners and amazon for the time being. On June 12, the platform released Shoojit Sircar’s amitabh Bachchan, ayushmann Khurrana star-rer gulabo Sitabo, making it the first hardcore Bollywood film to drop directly on an Ott platform, indicating a commercial coup of sorts. this shook up the cinema/exhibition industry at once, with at least two multiplex chains, PVr and Inox, pub-licly shooting off angry let-ters, screaming blue murder.

“Well, COVID is a tough spot [for everyone]. the filmmakers were in a tough spot. and we tried to help out,” Farrell reasons. What that move also momen-

tarily upended, again, was the Bollywood star-system. Which is based on box-office figures of films. and Ott platforms principally do not reveal viewership numbers. So how do I know, in a con-ventional sense, if gulabo Sitabo was a hit, given that there’s been a parallel in-dustry in place, tracking this data for decades?

“good question. If it’s a series, I guess you’ll know soon as we announce Season 2,” Farrell smiles. “But there are independent tracking systems like Nielsen for the US broadcasting industry. they didn’t start the day tV started. Likewise, it will take some time for a system to de-velop [for Otts]. there are al-ready research agencies that make estimates of how many viewers we, or Hotstar, have. Can’t say if the numbers are accurate. But they aren’t that far off.”

Farrell is perhaps referring to research-agency Media Planner asia, recently quot-ed in Forbes US, that pegged Prime Video paid subscribers to 17 million in India, by year-end. Second to Disney+Hot-star at 18 million (thanks in part to live sports, and ‘catch-up tV’). Netflix India, with a much higher subscription rate, is seen lagging for now,

at five million.While green-lit sequels are

indeed indicators for sure-fire popularity of a series, amazon Prime did, perhaps for the first time, officially announce in May that Four More Shots Please was the most watched Indian show on their platform, thus far, in 2020. Why make the ex-ception?

Farrell admits, “It is not a common thing. But the [cen-tral] question nearly nailed on our [office] doors is: Is this good for the customer? Just bragging about certain numbers is not. this was just a good story to tell, and we can help the show. It’s al-ways about that.”

also, shows tend to organ-ically grow in scale/budget as a franchise, with subse-quent successes. Case in point: Money Heist on Net-flix. Case two? Four More Shots Please had goa for its only outdoor location. the sequel travelled to Istan-bul and Udaipur. the third one, I’m told, will travel to europe.

“that’s speculation,” aparna Purohit gently inter-rupts. Purohit heads Indian original content, based in Mumbai. She’s been on shad-ow-mute, throughout this video-conference call with Farrell. Clarifying at another point, when asked why the original author tarun tejpal — on whose book (the Story of My assassins), Paatal Lok was based — wasn’t credited at all on-screen, Purohit says, “We’ve stated our position. the creators were inspired by the book. But the author had no role in the develop-ment of story, characters, or production of the show.”

Paatal Lok is Farrell’s favourite series from the current Indian slate. and he’s equally excited about Breathe Into the Shadows: “People are going to be shocked by the twists and turns on that one.” In anoth-er rare instance revealing numbers, Farrell points out that of the entire audience for Breathe — the first sea-son, starring r Madhavan as the protagonist — around 40-50 per cent clicked from outside India: “With the second season coming back (on July 10), and abhishek (Bachchan), think it’ll go even bigger.”

given the platform is the same, and already paid for; script, location, scale, and casting top-notch: Does it really matter so much any-more, if an established star Bachchan is the lead in a series (Breathe 2)? Or Jiten-dra Kumar (in Panchayat), or Jaideep ahlawat (in Paatal Lok)? akshay Kumar is slat-ed for his Ott debut on am-azon, with the action series, the end. Forthcoming show Bandish Bandits has un-known faces in main roles.

Farrell argues, “there are only three pieces of data we look at: How many people watched the show? two, how many people signed up [to the platform] to watch it? three, how many people finished it [or watched it till the end]?”

“Big stars will incentivise more people to click on the show, and/or sign up for the service. But after that, it’s re-ally up to the show, or film. that said, akshay wanted to be in this one [the end], because he’s uniquely suited to the role. also, they aren’t stars for no reason—they’re actors, who’ve got charisma, and are good at what they do.” and amazon Prime’s video section is doing well enough to afford them. Fair.

‘There are 3 parameters for a show’s success’

‘There are already research agencies that make estimates of how many viewers we, or Hotstar, have. Can’t say if the numbers are accurate’

A still from

Four More Shots Please

James Farrell

PHORUM DALAL

theguide@mid-day.com

An end-of-the-month sand-wich should be a thing,” Ank-iet Gulabani writes on his drool-worthy Instagram han-dle Belly Over Mind, having moved from the city to Dubai a year ago. “The idea is to use up anything you find in your refrig-erator. I create a dish using old ciabatta bread, pesto, sun dried tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, leftover ham and pepperoni slices, and the last bit of Moz-zarella cheese from the chiller.”

Smart in the kitchen

Leftovers don’t always need to be discarded. Gulabani suggests using the fibre from juiced fruit and vegetables to add body to stews or to veggie burger pat-ties. “My mum uses tomato skins to flavour the water she would add for a Sindhi tomato kadhi that turns the water into a quick consommé of sorts. Broccoli and cauliflower both have stems that you can finely chop and use in vegetable stir-fries. Ends of asparagus taste par-ticularly delicious with parmesan in soup and a bit of bacon. Ginger peels can be used while brewing tea. Potato

peels can be baked as chips,” says Gulabani.

Dough try it

Writer and food consultant Romi Purkayastha is gung-ho about reimagining ingredi-ents and dishes in her kitchen too. “It gets my creative juices flowing. I repurpose contents in my fridge regularly,” she says, taking the dough as her canvas. “Everyone uses lefto-

ver chapatis to make rolls, khakra and sabzi but

what happens to the dough that is sitting in the fridge for a few days, and is too hard for another batch of

rotis?” She has not one but three ideas.First, is to make Kar-

nataka-style shankar pali, a savoury snack option. “Add rice flour, baking soda, ajwain, salt and dry chilli to the dough and roll it out. Cut it into squares and deep-fry it in oil or ghee. With tomato ketchup or pudina chutney, it’s a heavenly combination,”

says Purkayastha. For those with a sweet tooth, she sug-gests malpuas. “To half a cup of dough, add a ripe banana, some dahi and fennel seeds. Mix it to a dosa batter con-sistency and deep-fry small pancakes in ghee. Dunk these in a sweet syrup of sugar or jaggery.”

And finally, she suggests a halwa. “This one will take

some work (and con-centration). For a

silky Karachi halwa tex-

ture, add t w o -

a n d - a - h a l f cups of water to half a cup of dough and let it rest for two hours. This mix will have a milky consist-ency. Strain to separate the gluten. Mix some sugar, saunf or fennel seeds and cook in a kadhai. Keep stirring till the mixture thickens and add ghee again. Repeat this exercise till the ghee starts separating. Transfer to a tray, pat it out and sprinkle some pumpkin seeds or cashew gratings.”

IngredIents£ 2 cups hung curd£ ¼ cup paneer£ Half cup grated carrots£ ¼ cup roasted gram flour £ 2 tsp corn flour£ ¼ cup bread crumbs£ 2 tbsp finely chopped

coriander leaves £ 1 tbsp garlic paste£ 2 tbsp chilli ginger paste£ 1 tsp garam masala£ Salt to taste £ A pinch of sugar (optional)

Method

Roast the grated raw carrots on a pan for about two min-utes. Then, mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Make round or ob-long-shaped tikkis of the mixture.

Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Place the

t ikk is on the pan. Shal-low-fry till crisp on both sides. Al-ternatively, one can also fry in oil or an air fryer. Serve hot with

mint chutney or sweet chili sauce

shital Kakad, owner Shital’s Food

Cottage cooking studio, Juhu

Four chefs share tips and recipes to create upcycled meals, thus ensuring nothing is wasted in your home pantry

In chef Mitesh rangras’s Punjabi household, leftover kheema is a regular occurrence. “I turn it into open tacos for breakfast or lunch. I like breaking a fried egg in it too,” he shares.

IngredIents£ 200 g leftover kheema (chicken, mutton or soya)£ 4 rotis £ 20 g cheese (cheddar or Amul) £ 30 g lettuce (romaine or ice-berg) £ 2 tsp Tabasco£ 3 tsp sriracha £ Taco seasoning £ 1 tbsp chilli powder £ ½ tbsp cumin£ ½ tsp onion powder£ ½ tsp garlic powder£ ½ tsp red pepper flakes£ ½ tsp oregano £ Salt to taste £ ½ tsp black pepper

For the salsa£ ½ ripe tomatoes £ ½ red onion £ 5-6 jalapeno (pick-led) £ ½ lemon juice £ Salt to taste £ ¼ tsp pepper £ 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the mint yoghurt£ 30-40 g mint leaves £ 20 g corian-der leaves£ 60 g Greek-style yoghurt£ Black salt to taste £ ½ green chili

Method

For the Salsa, combine the ingredients and refrigerate in advance. Mix the Tabasco and sriracha and refrigerate. For taco seasoning, roast the cumin and pepper flakes in a pan. Make a powder and mix the other powders after it cools down. For the mint yoghurt, combine all ingre-dients and blend for a min-ute. Make a smooth dressing

Assembly sequence: place the phulka on the plate, place lettuce, top with hot kheema. Grate cheese, salsa, drizzle the Tabasco and sriracha mixture. Sprin-kle the seasoning and driz-zle the yoghurt.

FOOD & DRINK

Ciabatta sandwich, (inset) Ankiet Gulabani

Malpua; (inset) Romi Purkayastha

Leftovers get a makeover

Carrot dahi

kebabs

Come together for The BeatlesFour city musicians who are ardent fans will perform an online concert dedicated to the iconic band

ONCE UPON IN A VIRUS »P16

mid-daySaturday

27.06.2020

15

Fully loaded

kheema phulka taco

SHUNASHIR SEN

shunashir.sen@mid-day.com

WHERE do The Beatles stand today? In the din of contemporary sounds in-cluding trap, glitch, trip-hop and what not, what rel-evance does the band have that didn’t quite create a stir as much as cause an earth-quake in the music in-dustry when the al-bum Please Please Me was launched in 1963? A lot, says Mumbai musician Sarosh nanavaty, ahead of a tribute gig this evening that she’s part of. “They had so many different sounds that some part of it still resonates with the younger generation. The band created what is called a revolution in music. That movement never changes. And rock ‘n’ roll never dies,” nanavaty reasons.

It’s fitting that she was in college with two of her fel-low performers — Hormuz Ragina and Arish Bhiwan-diwala, as well as naquita D’Souza — because The Bea-tles also began their journey when John Lennon and ear-ly member Stuart Sutcliffe were students at Liverpool College of Art. nanavaty tells us, “I was in the college

band with Hormuz and Arish, and they were such huge fans that we would always have some

Beatles song or the other in our perfor-

mances. So, it’s nice that years later, we are getting

to play this tribute gig.”She adds that the on-

line concert will involve individual performances, though she also reveals that since Ragina lives nearby, they are trying to figure out a way for both of them to team up at the same space (following all safety pre-cautions, of course). Other-wise, the plan is to keep the renditions as authentic as possible. Rock ‘n’ roll isn’t dead, after all. And if you ask us, it never will be.

EMAIL Tonight, 8 pmLOG ON TO bookmyshow.com COST `199

MUSIC

(From left) John

Lennon, George

Harrison, Paul McCartney

and Ringo Starr of

the Beatles; (above)

Sarosh Nanavaty

16 THE GUIDE mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Writer Zai Whitaker’s book on the pandemic invites eight-plussers on an adventure to save the world

V for virusDALREEN RAMOS

dalreen.ramos@mid-day.com

THE planet isn’t called Earth anymore. It’s now Dearth — a place with depleting essentials. It’s also where Zyrus the Vi-rus (Tulika Books) is rooted in. Featuring Zyrus, who we dare say is an ‘adorable’ anxious little virus with spikes, as its protagonist, it hopes to take readers aged above eight on an adventure of learning and dis-covery not about the pandemic and its ravages, but what they must learn from it.

Coupled with engaging il-lustrations by Niloufer Wadia, the book has been authored by Zai Whitaker, who grew up in Mumbai and currently lives and works at the Madras Croc-odile Bank near Chennai, which she helped set up over 40 years ago. Over a phone call, Whitak-er tells us that she has never been this happy with a book. The author of the award-win-

ning Salim Mammoo and Me, also acknowledges that she

has perhaps never written anything so quickly,

in the span of seven weeks. “With every book, many strands come together. As someone working in

a zoo and on several environmental pro-

jects across the country, the environmental scenar-

io is pretty much at the back of my head. The Coronavirus is reminding us of every message that scientists had long warned us about,” she says.

Another reason that com-pelled her to write the 50-pag-er, was adventure. While think-ing of short adventure stories

for children, rather obvious narratives of kids falling on the hillside during a hike or kids going snorkelling and meeting a shark, cropped up. “Then I said to myself, ‘Oh silly thing, it’s all around you!’ I re-alised that the pandemic was the biggest adventure that’s ever happened to the Earth. I wanted to get the book out during the lockdown because only then would it have an impact,” she shares.

What’s interesting about Whitaker’s writing is the fact that it is didactic without being too in-your-face. It takes a while to note that nail polish being the preferred drink for all virus-es because it is available in plenty is actually a com-ment on consumerism and as a result, landfills. “It’s not the sort of book where children are like, ‘Oh! I am being educated.’ And it is this approach that requires a lot of fine-tuning while writ-ing,” she shares.

Zyrus the Virus did entail a lot of research, and Whitaker attended many Zoom webinars including one by the National Centre for Biological Sciences. She also reckons that she will possibly take to writing about the pandemic again. “For long, we’ve been talking about the 11th hour. But this is the 11th hour. I want this to be a good sto-ry that stays in the minds of children and parents. In every possible way, we need to look at what we do and think as people.”

The book features

illustrations by Niloufer Wadia

Zai Whitaker. PIC/GNANESWAR CH

New format, new jokes Following the trend of virtual shows, comedian Kunal Kamra is testing material for groups of 40

THE GUIDE TEAM

theguide@mid-day.com

STARTING earlier this month, comedian Kunal Kamra has been getting online, at 9 pm nearly every night to test new material. His audi-ence is made up of 40 people on the Zoom app, and he is trying out a new medium while at it. “The idea is to have one-and-a-half-hours of jokes ready at the end of six months,” he says about this exercise, adding that it is something he is likely to continue in the days ahead.

While there are disadvan-tages that come with taking the virtual route, Kamra be-

lieves, the low expectations, and ticket prices are among

the few things the medium has going for itself. “It’s

also the only way for people to see you if they want to. Since theatres are not opening anytime soon, we might as

well get used to it.”Of the content in

these shows, Kamra wants to keep the element of sur-

prise intact and won’t venture into the subjects he addresses. However, he says, “The jokes that you do in an auditorium fall flat here. I’m trying to make the shows more inter-active and dissect a certain issue or human emotion with the audience. Besides, every

show is different at the mo-ment and I’m still finding my footing.”

In an attempt to keep it in-teresting, Kamra also invites a new guest on each of the shows. “They are all people I admire and find funny,” he says hinting at fellow stand-up comedians on the list.

ON June 29 and 30, 9 pmLOG ON TO insider.inCOST R300

BOOKS

STAND-UP COMEDY

SIGN UP

LOOKING for real-life in-spiration for art? Bengalu-ru-based Lilian D’Mello is hosting live sketching ses-sions, where she stands on

the other side of the easel as an art model. Based on themes such as oriental and warrior, she dresses up and poses for hours on IGTV or Zoom for artists to sketch her. “It’s different from regular modelling as un-like photo shoots, one has to hold a pose for hours,” says the 23-year-old who took the online route after the lockdown began. While the theme for Saturday is the Filipino portrait Tres Maria, the one for Sunday’s live stream, which is free, is dancing with flowers.

ON June 27 and 28 LOG ON TO @lilian.dmello on Instagram for details

Sukanya Datta

Muse for your art

‘I wanted to get the book out during the lockdown for the impact’Zai Whitaker

Oriental themed artwork by Ekta Bharati

‘Since theatres aren’t opening soon, we might as well get used to this’ Kunal Kamra

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The Readers are recommended to make appropriate inquirybefore sending money, incurring any expenses or entering intoany commitment in relation to any Advertisement published inthis publication. Midday Infomedia Limited does not vouch forany claims made by the advertisers of products and services.The Directors, Key Managerial Personnel, Printer, Publisher &Editor of Midday Infomedia Limited shall not be held liable forany consequences, in the event such claims are not honoured bythe Advertisers. MIDDAY INFOMEDIA LIMITED

18mid-daySaturday

27.06.2020

Astrology Tenders, Notices & Contracts

19 mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020

20 TIMEPASS mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Can you ind the words connected in one way or the other with the theme indicated by the title in today’s Word Search? The words may be read horizontally, vertically or diagonally either forwards or backwards, but always in straight lines. Use a ruler to cross them through as you ind them.

Albiorix, Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Helene, Hyperion, Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Paaliaq, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Prometheus, Rhea, Siarnaq, Tehtys, Titan, Ymir

WHAT TO DO Fill each empty cell with a digit from 1-9, ensuring that no digit is repeated in any row, column or 3x3 square.

WHAT TO DO Place the numbers 1-9 exactly once per row, column and 3 x 3 bold-lined box. Additionally the sum total of the squares in each dashed-line shape must match the total given in that shape, and you may not repeat a number within a dashed-line shape.

WORDSEARCH Saturn’S SatelliteS

MEDIUM SUDOKU

FIENDISH SUDOKU

I had sex with my best

friend a few weeks ago,

when we went out of

town with a big group

of common friends. It

was just something that

happened because we

were sharing a room

together. I can’t stop

thinking about him

since then. I want to be

his girlfriend but don’t

know if he will consider

this seriously because

he has never expressed

any romantic interest

in me. How do I get him

to start considering a

relationship with me?

If he is your best friend, what stops you from being honest about that encounter and what it meant for you? If this compels him to think of you in a new light, you can both have a conversation about what that means. If he explains why he doesn’t see you as a partner, you will have to accept that you still have him as your best friend, unless you want to jeopardize that

relationship. Either way, all you can do is open up and talk about this.

My parents want me

to get married because

I broke up with my

boyfriend a year ago. We

were together for 4 years,

so our split came as a

shock to them. They now

think the relationship

ended because it was

my fault and want me to

consider proposals from

their family friends. I

don’t want to marry just

because they don’t think

I can’t find someone for

myself. What should I do?

They are your parents and, presumably, have your best interests at heart. If they blame you for the failure of a relationship, have you tried putting across your point of view? Do you spend time, as a family, trying to understand each other? That is critical not just to what they want for you in the immediate future. Talk to them about their expectations of you, why it doesn’t meet your own expectations, and what your plans for your future are. As an adult, you don’t have to do anything you are not comfortable with.

The inbox is now open to take your most carnal and amorous queries. Send your questions on email to lovedoc@mid-day.com

Haven fallen hard for my best friend

Certain matters may not exactly work out in your favour today, but they are of no consequence, so better to take them sportingly.

Today your long-cherished ambitions are likely to come to fruition. It deinitely calls for celebrations.

Your reserve of energy is likely to be ovelowing today. Whatever you do, you shall succeed at it.

Stay alert today, otherwise you may miss some important or lucrative opportunities. Don’t go by hearsay.

You shall be moving in high society today, all decked up in your best party outits, attracting longing looks from the opposite sex.

On this rather uneventful day, you shall have the pleasure of at least helping out the needy.

AR

IES

CA

NC

ER

LE

O

SC

OR

PIO

SA

GIT

TA

RIU

S

PIS

CE

S

You may be tempted to throw your weight around today, and your juniors are likely to bear the brunt of it. Be careful.

Today is a professionally busy day and you shall be buried under loads of iles, and by the end of the day you shall feel confused.

Your professional life is going to dominate your personal life. On the inancial front, you may become very frugal.

Much romantic activity is in store for you today. There may be a candle-lit dinner lined up for the evening.

Today your personal life may dominate your professional life. You shall spend time relaxing and playing with close friends.

Unwavering though you may be in the conduct of your oicial duties, you may have to wait a few days for eforts to be recognised.

TA

UR

US

CA

PR

ICO

RN

LIB

RA

VIR

GO

GE

MIN

I

AQ

UA

RIU

S

DR. LOVE

21 TIMEPASS mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

CLASSIC CROSSWORD

SOLUTIONS

WORDSEARCH MEDIUM SUDOKU FIENDISH SUDOKU

CLASSIC CROSSWORD 10113

ACROSS

1 Hyphen5 It’s not the whole thing9 Librarian’s admonition12 North central US state13 At your full height, should we say?

(2,3-3)15 A stout pole used for a vessel’s mast16 Made out of skins of animals17 A person used to serve as a tool for

another? (4-3)19 Platform for a coin20 Pronoun for a girl21 Bombay High contraption — “Oi Girl”

anagram? (3,3)23 Overlowed26 Toward the stern27 ___ Dhabi: capital of United Arab

Emirates?28 Compassion29 Adipose30 Far from beautiful31 Assoc. in Pub. Admin.32 Gear tooth33 Fencing swords34 Higher in rank36 Commonwealth Games in short37 Another word for ‘girl’38 Up-draught42 Bandage44 Roomy or breezy45 Without warning46 “Need” anagram for a small valley47 Munich the48 Abandoned49 Son of Seth, grandson of Adam?

DOWN

1 Flat plate2 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assoc.3 Hit hard or crush, ly etc. with a blow4 In a caustic or rasping manner

5 Type of bear6 Once more7 Required Time of Arrival8 A tasty little piece of food (3-3)9 Cheapest shipboard accommodation10 Awful11 Egg-layer14 ___ Edmonds: English spinner of the

days gone by?18 Domesticated animal21 Frequently22 Supporting ropes?23 Mineral spring resorts24 Supply route (4-4)25 Capital of Arunachal Pradesh26 Local ire or famous Hindi movie of

days gone by?29 In place of30 Raise status32 To do with the ribs33 Female sheep35 Middle of Caesar’s saying (1,3)36 The front, upper part of the body38 Unclean or unit for use according to

Jewish law39 Manner or bearing40 River of Italy41 Alkaline solutions42 Colloquial word for a lord?43 Abstract noun suix

THE BRILLIANT MIND OF EDISON LEE – JOHN HAMBROCK

CALVIN & HOBBES – BILL WATTERSON

ZITS – Jerry Scott & Jim Borgman

BETWEEN FRIENDS – Sandra Bell-Lundy

Scribble pad

TEASERFind one word which can be associated with:

BankingBringHeading

TEASER

Home (Home banking, bring home and heading home)

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was overcome with emotion as he dedicated the club’s first league title in 30 years to the club’s fans on Thursday.

Klopp wiped away tears of joy during a TV interview minutes after Chelsea’s 2-1 win against Manchester City sealed the Pre-mier League crown for Liverpool.

“It’s such a big moment, I am completely overwhelmed,” Klopp said. “Tonight it is for you out there. It’s incredible,” added Klopp.

A first league title in three dec-ades caps a meteoric rise for the Reds back to the top of English football after Klopp arrived in 2015 with the club struggling just to break into the top four. But the for-mer Borussia Dortmund coach re-mains hungry for more silverware in the coming years with most of his squad still in their prime.

‘Exciting ride’

“What they did over the last two or three years is just exception-al and a pure joy for me to coach them,” said Klopp, who watched City’s defeat alongside his players at a hotel. “It’s just been a really exciting ride from the first day I arrived and it is not over yet, that’s the good thing. The team look like

they have a good few years in their legs but for tonight, we just enjoy this moment. It is the best thing I can imagine, it’s more than I ever dreamed of, to be honest.”

Fans ignore social distancing

Meanwhile, Liverpool fans ig-nored social distancing rules to gather outside Anfield amid the Coronavirus as they partied the night away. But the German prom-ised Liverpool will hold a cele-bratory parade. “We will create

pictures in the future with the parade for all our supporters,” added Klopp. “We will be together and enjoy this in a proper manner.”

AFP

Liverpool fans celebrate their team’s EPL title win outside Anfield on Thursday. PICS/AFP

mid-daySaturday

27.06.2020

22MANPREET UP CLOSE »P24

LIVERPOOL: Kenny Dalglish hailed fantastic Jurgen Klopp as the key to Liverpool’s first English title for 30 years after the Reds were crowned Premier League champions on Thursday.

Until Klopp arrived at Anfield in 2015, Liverpool were in danger of being left behind by big-spending Manchester City and Chelsea. But the Liverpool manager has revived the club in stunning style, culmi-nating in the first league champi-onship since Anfield icon Dalglish last led the Reds to the title in 1990.

“The last few years since Jurgen came in has been very positive the whole way through. He has been fantastic,” Dalglish told BT Sport. “He epitomises everything that Liv-erpool Football Club stands for. He appreciates it, he respects everyone who works at he club. They have all got his respect. Whatever they have got they deserve it, it’s not just a one off because last year they came within a point of it,” he added.

AFP

Title was impossible without Klopp, says captain HendersonLIVERPOOL: Liv-erpool captain Jordan Hen-derson hailed manager Ju-rgen Klopp’s transforma-tional impact on the club to end a 30-year wait to win the Premier League title on Thursday.

Klopp arrived at Anfield in 2015 with the Reds struggling just to qualify for the Champions League on a regular basis via a top four finish.

“I felt from day one when he came in the door he changed everything,” said Henderson. “We followed him and believed him. It’s been an amazing journey. I’m hoping there is more, we just keep hungry, keep wanting more and following him. The biggest thing is no matter what we all follow him and he’s took us to this point. This wouldn’t be possible without him.”

AFP

‘THIS ONE IS FOR YOU, DEAR FANS’

19No. of English league titles Liverpool have won

SevenNo. of games still left to play for Liverpool despite having won the EPL— the earliest title victory in English league’s history

OneLiverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is the first German manager to win the EPL title in its 131-year history

23No. of consecutive EPL wins Liverpool have registered at home this season

1990The year Liverpool last won the English league

Jurgen epitomises everything Liverpool stands for: Dalglish

Emotional Liverpool boss Klopp dedicates EPL crown to supporters as Chelsea beat Manchester City to end Reds’s 30-year wait for title

Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish

Jurgen Klopp

23 SPORT mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

BCCI GM, Cricket Operations Saba Karim’s position under scannerNEW DELHI: The BCCI just like any other sporting body around the world has been hurt by the economic hurdles that has ac-co m p a n i e d the COVID-19 p a n d e m -ic. And GM, Cricket Oper-ations Syed Saba Karim’s position is under the scanner as there is a thought that he isn’t bringing too much to the table.

A senior board executive in the know of developments confirmed that Karim’s po-sition is under the scanner as there have been too many issues that have remained unattended which fall under the GM, Cricket Operations’ purview. And considering the economic situation, a tough call is likely to be taken soon.

“These are unprecedented times and we are all aware that you really have to think out of the box and you have to be clinical about it. We need to ensure that the we come out of this pandemic with the least amount of damage to the game. We have been holding a lot of discussions amongst the executives and the office bear-ers have been having their own discussions. In our discussions on the areas that need atten-tion, sadly his contribution has not been up to the mark,” he said. IANS

Tambe applies for CPL but has to retire for BCCI NOC

VETERAN Mumbai leg-spin-ner Pravin Tambe has put his name for the Caribbe-an Premier League play-ers’ draft but BCCI is un-likely to give him permis-sion unless he announces re-tirement from Indian domes-tic cricket.

The BCCI had not allowed Tambe for the now-postponed IPL edition for KKR as he flout-ed the rules by appearing in the unsanctioned T10 league at Abu Dhabi.

The BCCI rule states that any player who wants to play in domestic T20 leagues in other countries will get a No Objection Certificate provided he announces retirement from all forms of domestic cricket including the IPL.

That was exactly that Yu-vraj Singh did before he went to play Global T20 league in Canada. PTI

BELGRADE: Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic on Thursday backed his fellow countryman Novak Djokovic, who was widely slammed for hosting a tennis exhi-bition where he was one of four players to test positive for the Coronavirus, and said the World No. 1 was the “cat” who will chase away the “mice”.

“Mice came out of the hole and gave themselves the right to criticise the World number one, in tennis but

also how he relates to all other people in the world,” Matic wrote in an open letter of support to Djokovic pub-lished by local media.

“But I don’t care. Very soon

the cat [Djokovic] will be on the court, and the mice in the hole.” The midfielder stressed that the tournament in Belgrade was organised in line with the Serbian law. He labelled the event “great” and voiced hope it will become traditional. “The only thing for which I resent Novak is that he apologises to the mice who criticise him for no reason.

“No, Nole. They will apolo-gise to you—soon.” AFP

Utd’s Matic defends compatriot Djoko

Nemanja Matic Novak Djokovic

HARIT N JOSHI

harit.joshi@mid-day.com

WITH the Maharashtra gov-ernment steadily unlocking to attain total normalcy, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Friday approached chief minister Uddhav Thac-keray for guidelines on re-suming cricket activities that have been stalled in the city for three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MCA Joint Secretary Shah Alam Shaikh submitted a let-ter signed by secretary Sanjay Naik, to Thackeray, seeking the way forward to organise cricket.

The letter, a copy of which is

with mid-day, stated: “Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, all the cricketing activities have come to a standstill. We sup-port all the initiatives taken by the government towards combating the pandemic and have contributed to the Chief Minister’s Fund as our way of showing support to the efforts of the government.

Anxious players

“At the same time, we have to understand that there are thousands of players, who are anxiously waiting to get back to cricketing activities and pursue their careers. They have been patiently waiting for this pandemic to get over.

However, it seems we have to learn to live with the virus. In these unprecedented times, we request you to kindly provide some guidelines/standard operating procedures regarding getting back to cricket.

“We would greatly appreciate if you could pro-vide us with the necessary directions on as to when and how we can resume cricketing activities.”

MCA is hopeful that the government will soon provide a direction. “Instead of waiting for the govern-ment’s directive, we thought

of approaching them as our members are keen to know when local crick-et will resume. We are hopeful that the government will soon give us a guide-line,” Shah Alam told mid-day.

Will Kanga League happen?

Alam however, remained non-committal on the fate of the renowned Dr HD Kan-ga Cricket League happening this season. “We will wait for the government’s response. Only once we receive that, can we start planning for the tournament. It all depends

on which month we will get permission to start our cricket,” Shah Alam said.

Meanwhile, the MCA Apex Council is keen on forming an interim Cricket Improve-ment Committee (CIC) that will appoint the coaches and selectors for the forthcoming season. As per the MCA con-stitution, the CIC can only be formed in the general body meeting, which they have not been able to call due to the pandemic. “MCA mem-bers’ consent will be sought through email or a letter be-fore appointing the CIC. That’s the only way we can go about things in the current situa-tion,” an MCA official said.

MCA writes to CM seeking guidelines to resume cricket

CM Uddhav Thackeray

NEW DELHI: India all-rounder Vijay Shankar has recalled his World Cup debut which came in a high-octane clash against Pakistan in Manchester last year.

Speaking on the Bharat Army podcast’s Cricket World Cup 2019 Rewind, Shankar also revealed that the Indian players were abused by a Pakistan fan before their group stage match against the arch-rivals on June 16 at the Old Trafford.

“A few of us [players] had gone out for coffee one day be-fore the game when a Pakistan fan came up to us and liter-ally started abusing us. That was my first experience of an India-Pakistan game,” Shankar said.

“We just had to take it. He was abusing us and recording everything, so we couldn’t react. All we could do was sit and watch what he was doing,” he added.

During the course of the conversation, Shankar, 29, also revealed how he spent

some chill time with wick-etkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik ahead of the big Pa-kistan clash to try and cope better with pressure. “It’s very hard for me to sit in a room and do nothing,” Shankar said.

“I want to go out for a cof-fee and all and I had Dinesh Karthik with me. So the two of us would go out for coffee. We used to have some fun, which is very important, I feel because the pressure is very high. So we just have to give some time to ourselves, ease out and chill.”

The all-rounder had a dream start to his World Cup career. After remaining unbeaten on 15 with the bat, Shankar got a wicket off the very first ball he bowled, trapping Pakistan opener Imam ul Haq in front of the stumps. India eventual-ly won the match by 89 runs (DLS method) to continue their unbeaten record against Pakistan in ODI World Cups, making it seven wins in seven encounters. IANS

‘A Pakistan fan abused us’

India all-rounder Vijay Shankar celebrates after claiming the wicket of Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed during the 2019 World Cup league match at Old Trafford, Manchester last June. PIC/AFP

Vijay Shankar reveals ugly experience on eve of 2019 ICC World Cup clash with arch-rivals in Manchester

Novak’s coach

tests positive

ZAGREB: Tennis great Goran Ivanisevic says he has tested positive for the Coronavirus. The former Wimbledon champion coaches top-ranked Novak Djokovic and was at the recent Adria Tour exhibition series in Serbia and Croatia.Ivanisevic won the Wimbledon title in 2001. AP/PTI

2020 Davis Cup final cancelled due to virusLONDON: The Davis Cup men’s tennis competition has been canceled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will pick up again in 2021.

Matches were scheduled for this September and the Davis Cup finals were set for Novem-ber in Madrid.

Now the World Group I and World Group II preliminary matches will be played in var-ious sites in either March or September 2021. AP/PTI

Nikki Bella finds Artem amazing

24 SPORT mid-day Saturday, June 27, 2020 | www.mid-day.com | twitter.com/mid_day | epaper.mid-day.com

Postal Registration Number MCE/263/2015-2017

close of play

SANIA’S SUPER LOOKIndia tennis star Sania Mirza Instagrammed the above picture to her 6.4 million followers on Thursday and captioned it: “Going out or jumping into bed?? Guess you’ll never know.” The post received 105,202 ‘likes’.

Manpreet is annoying but lovable, says fiancee IlliINDIA hockey captain Manpreet Singh’s fian-cee Illi Saddique posted the above picture on her Twitter handle on Friday, wishing him on his 28th birthday.

Illi, a Malaysian citizen, and Manpreet, have been apart from each other throughout the Corona-virus-caused lockdown, but it only goes to show that distance has made their hearts grow fond-er. “Happy Birthday to the most annoying per-son in my life @man-

preetpawar07! So beyond blessed to laugh with you, cry with you, love you, go on adventures with you and live this magical life with you. You make life joy filled! I’m truly blessed to have you in my life boo,” Illi, 27, wrote alongside her post.

The couple have been in a relationship for over eight years, but have mutually agreed that marriage will have to wait as Manpreet’s sole focus for the moment is his commitment towards Indian hockey.

FORMER American wrestler Nikki Bella has said it melts her heart when she sees fiance Artem Chigvintsev personal-ly picking items to decorate their unborn son’s room.

“We got a lot of antiques for his bookshelf. And Artem kept wanting this vintage ship so badly...because Ar-tem, the special moments he has from his childhood, [are of] him and his dad fishing.

“It was really cute for me how persistent he was in wanting that in baby’s room because of the memories he had with his dad and the memories he wants to build with our son. And that real-

ly melted my heart. It’s amazing when the man is hands-on,” Nikki was quoted as saying by Female First website.

Meanwhile, she wants the room to motivate and inspire her kid. “What I found interesting is, like, here we design our baby’s room before they’re even born. And what I kept thinking was, you know what, I want to have a room that even as a baby — and I know

people might think I’m weird — that he’s going to day-

dream in, and it’s going to

motivate him and i n s p i re h i m to be whatev-er it is he wants to be,” she

added.

NEW DELHI: India’s football stal-wart IM Vijayan on Friday urged the country’s youngsters to get addicted to football, not to drugs.

The former captain, in his message on the occasion of In-ternational Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, said instead of seeking a quick solu-tion through drugs, the young-sters should head to the football ground.

“It helps you maintain a biological clock. You have a healthy appetite, maintain an eight-hour sleep cycle which is

important to stay fit. Get addicted to football, not drugs,” Vijayan said in a release from All India Football Federation (AIFF). “Drugs can never be a solution, rather it’s a problem rooted deeper. It destroys the lives of everyone around the addicted person. The after-effects are dev-astating,” said Vijayan, who was re-cently recommended for the Padma Shri by the AIFF.

PTI

AMERICAN Mixed Martial Art-ist Paige VanZant has claimed she earned more money from Dancing with the Stars show than her entire Ultimate Fight-ing Championship (UFC) career.

According to reports, Paige, who has 2.5 million followers on Instagram, is worth around GBP2.8m (approx R26.24 crore). And her last fight of her cur-rent UFC contract is on July 11 against Amanda Ribas in UAE.

“I have my heart set and nobody is going to change my mind that I’m fighting my con-tract out. So I make $46,000 [to show] and another $46,000 [to win]. I made more money on

Dancing with the Stars than I have in my entire UFC career combined — every fight, every win, every bonus. I love fight-ing. It’s what I love to do, and for this fight, I dropped every single sponsor. I haven’t posted anything on Instagram,” Paige, who finished second in the dance reality show four years ago, told ESPN.

Paige said her fees has been the same for a few years. “I’ve been with the UFC for six years now, and through this time I’m still — which is crazy — on the same contract before I fought Rose [Namajunas] at 22, and I’m 26 now.”

‘I’ve been with the UFC for six years now, and through this time I’m still on the same contract’ Paige VanZant

SHOW ME THE MONEY!America’s Paige VanZant insists she earned more on Dancing with the Stars show than her entire UFC career

Get addicted to football, not drugs: Vijayan