Sunday, 12 January 2025
Sunday, 12 January 2025
IIT Roorkee’s idlli-chutney glitch
The good folks at IIT Roorkee became like all of us last week, failing to proofread a message before hitting send, when some mails for an examination admit card went out with the greeting “Dear idli chutney no sambhar”.
A user shared a screenshot on Reddit of the unusual email for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering aka GATE 20225: “Dear idli chutney no sambhar, GATE 2025 Admit Cards are now available to download from the GOAPS portal.”
Culinary discussions followed, with one saying, “Hello. Idli chutney no sambhar, from Sarson da saag and makki di roti,” while another added, “I hope it's orange chutney; otherwise, it would be an utter waste to be stuck with white chutney and no sambhar.”
Another asked, "Why no sambhar?"
Another added, “Unpaid intern at it.” Yet another user took to X and tagged IIT Roorkee and Tamil Nadu’s chief minister, declaring: "IIT Roorkee team called me idly chutney no sambhar idk how to react but this is racist."
IIT Roorkee issued a clarification, stating that the mishap was due to a technical glitch in their bulk email system. The institution assured that the issue was quickly resolved, and corrected emails were sent to affected candidates.
Baldness epidemic grips Maharashtra villages
Residents of three sleepy villages in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district woke up to a nightmare that can only be described as hair-raising. Or, more aptly, hair-losing.
These lush villages have turned into a real-life dystopian film set where people — young and old — are waking up to find their hair gone. Yes, gone! Overnight transformations from Rapunzel to Vin Diesel are making headlines, leaving villagers both horrified and confused.
The scene has been unfolding in Kalvad, Bondgaon, and Hingna villages, where nearly 30 residents have reported sudden, inexplicable hair loss. Overnight, tresses vanished, hairlines receded faster than politicians after election season, and the villages now look like impromptu gatherings of reluctant monks.
By "hair loss," we don't mean the usual retreating hairline or the slow crawl of bald patches. This is the Thanos snap of hair.
Health teams have launched an investigation, with water contamination becoming the prime suspect. Samples from local wells, rivers, and taps are being sent for testing.
One Bollywood aficionado suggested: “Maybe it’s like PK! Could aliens be testing shampoos on us?”
Varanasi monkeys fly kites, crash courtroom
In Varanasi, simians seem to be upping their game and rewriting the manual on urban Indian monkey shenanigans. Two recent examples.
In the first, a rooftop in the city turned into an impromptu sports arena when a monkey was caught flying a kite like it was born to do it.
With all the grace of a seasoned kite-runner (minus the running), the primate tugged and pulled at the string, demonstrating skills that left the human crowd gobsmacked.
The video, shared on X, showed the monkey clutching the string with an air of confidence that would make any kite enthusiast jealous. As the kite drifted closer, the monkey snatched it with a triumphant flair, sparking cheers from the onlookers below.
Naturally, social media had a field day. “Performance anxiety ho gayi bhai ko logo ke chillane se, warna ek do patang to kaat hi deni thi [had the crowd not given him performance anxiety, he would have defeated a few other kites as well],” sympathised one user, imagining the monkey’s plight under pressure.
“Rise of the planet of the monkeys,” declared another.
While the monkey didn’t cut – defeat – any kites (yet), it’s clear that it has set the bar high for rooftop entertainment in the city.
Meanwhile in the same Varanasi, another monkey wandered into the district court during the Gyanvapi case hearing on January 4, strolling around as if it had some legal business to attend to.
Witnesses reported that the monkey roamed the courtroom. At one point, it climbed onto the chief judicial magistrate's table, perhaps in protest of a banana shortage or just to assert its dominance. It made its way to the district judge's area before exiting as nonchalantly as it had entered.
Maybe the term “legal eagle” is outdated?
White boys troll Ambani security in Mumbai
Two content creators tried to talk their way into Antilia by claiming to be “rich kids” and “like the Ambanis of Europe”, but the brave sentinels of Mukesh Ambani’s eye-popping home in south Mumbai warded them off with ease.
In a video that garnered over 30 million views on Instagram and eight million on X, the two white boys can be seen telling the guard that they were invited to the Ambani residence to play a game on the PlayStation.
Asked if they have any formal invitation or e-mail, they try to convince the guard that they too are “rich kids”. Upon being told that Ambani is not at home, the two ask if they can wait inside, to which the security official replies, “It's a house, not a restaurant.”
Another pitch – “Ambani came to Bali once, and Bali belongs to my father” – is similarly swatted.
Mad props to the Ambani security guards for doing it all with a straight face.
Punjab village offers money for weddings without DJ, booze
Couples who swap vodka shots for sugarcane juice and beats for bird songs for their weddings could not only save on expenses but also walk away with a tidy reward in Ballo village of Punjab.
The village in Bathinda district has reportedly decided to reward families Rs 21,000 if they host alcohol- and DJ-free weddings. The plan is straightforward: ditch the liquor and loud music, and the village will hand you the cash.
So no chance of DJs being shot when they refuse drunk requests, and students also have a chance to study in peace, free from the booming basslines of wedding DJs.
Win-win, we say.
Kolkata lawyer takes late parents on vintage-car joyride
For one Kolkata lawyer, life is a courtroom where his parents have always been his strongest defence. Once told he’d never walk again after a devastating accident, it was his father’s unwavering belief that helped him rise—literally—and reclaim his life.
Years later, his parents may be gone, but their legacy stands tall, quite literally, in the form of lifelike statues that now live in the lawyer’s home.
On a chilly winter morning, the lawyer decided to honour their memory in a way that turned heads and warmed hearts.
Placing the statues in a vintage car, he took his parents on a nostalgic ride through Kolkata’s iconic streets, with a pit stop at the grand Victoria Memorial.
At Victoria Memorial, he spent time with children from an orphanage.
Ever the lawyer, he is building a case against what he calls a societal decline in respect for parents. Because in his world, some bonds are too sacred to leave in the rearview mirror.
Make women pregnant, earn lakhs: Bihar cops bust scam
Three men from Kahuara village in Bihar’s Nawada district were arrested recently for a scam operation in which they duped men by advertising an ‘All India Pregnant Service Job’.
The three had duped applicants of thousands of rupees on the pretext of registration and hotel booking, police were quoted as saying.
The job description promised to pay Rs 10 lakh for fathering a child. Apparently, several men found the offer so tempting that many opted for it right away by submitting documents such as PAN and Aadhaar cards.
The trio advertised on Facebook “and in the name of registration, they collected personal information and money from the callers,” a senior police officer was quoted as saying.
Apparently a BBC report had shed light on a similar scam last year after Bihar police had arrested eight men, seized nine mobile phones and a printer involved in the ‘All India Pregnant Service Job’.
