Monday, 20 January 2025
Monday, 20 January 2025
Mansukh Mandaviya's salary for homemakers
Imagine getting paid for cooking, filling up water bottles, cleaning up the house, and other mundane but necessary chores. A dream come true, right?
Union labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya might just be the ticket to that.
On ‘Future of Jobs-Shaping Tomorrow's Workforce’, a conference jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the ministry of labour and employment, Mandaviya put on his feminist garb to go all out questioning the low participation of women in the workforce.
He proposed that the definition of jobs in India be tweaked to include women working within households (homemakers) and self-employed individuals.
“Why is a woman considered employed only when she works in someone else’s home and not her own,” the minister asked.
He also pitched for self-employment tags for women in rural parts of the country taking care of cattle and working on farms.
All good here, nothing to say; only question: Who will pay that salary?
‘Dead’ Kerala man moves fingers
In a story that left the town of Pachapoika in Kerala wide-eyed and the hospital staff even wider-eyed, a 67-year-old man cheated death — or at least what everyone thought was death.
After being declared as good as gone, the man surprised everyone by casually moving his fingers just as his body was being wheeled into the mortuary.
Unable to handle the mounting medical expenses, the man’s family had brought him back home from a hospital in Mangaluru after doctors declared he wouldn’t survive without ventilator support.
They decided to take him back to his hometown. The five-hour ambulance journey was sombre. The family arranged for a mortuary freezer at a hospital and began preparations for his funeral.
But fate had a different plan — and it was hiding in his fingers.
As the man was about to be wheeled into the mortuary freezer, a hospital attendant and an electrician noticed the man’s fingers moving.
They immediately alerted the relatives and doctors. When the patient’s blood pressure was checked, it was found to be normal. The man was promptly shifted to the ICU, where doctors confirmed he was alive, albeit critically ill.
He is now under treatment.
Give the mortuary staff a raise, we say.
WWE in Uttar Pradesh auto
A fare dispute in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, has turned into an internet sensation, blending high drama with public outrage. A viral video, shared by the protagonist herself, showcases an altercation between her and an auto driver.
The scene unfolds with the protagonist – a girl – grabbing the auto driver by his collar and trying to yank him out of his auto.
The auto driver repeatedly pleads: “Hum kuch nahi kahe hai aapko,” his voice filled with desperation. But our protagonist seems determined to make her point. Not one to be limited by the confines of the street, she climbs into the auto to continue her 'discussion.'
The protagonist claimed that the driver had used “offensive” language against her.
The autowallah, meanwhile, claimed that the dispute began when he asked our protagonist and her companion for the fare.
The internet, as always, erupted with reactions. Some questioned the wisdom of sharing a video where one is clearly in the wrong, while others speculated if our protagonist had been inspired by WWE or daily soaps.
Goa's flying lighter delivery
In a scene straight out of an action-comedy flick, a man paragliding over Goa’s stunning coastline managed to pull off an impromptu lighter delivery service—all while soaring through the air.
Captured on video and shared on Instagram, the clip begins with the serene sight of the man gliding against a picturesque sunset. That serenity is hilariously interrupted when someone from the ground shouts, “Bhaiya, lighter hai?” (Do you have a lighter?).
Without hesitation—and defying all laws of logic—the paraglider expertly swoops down, casually hands over a lighter, and continues his airborne journey like a boss.
The moment, complete with laughter and disbelief from onlookers, lit up social media as quickly as a flick of a Zippo. Comments rolled in faster than Zepto’s delivery service, with users dubbing the paraglider an “angel without wings” and applauding his precision. “Didn’t even drop the lighter—straight into the hand! Skill unmatched,” wrote one impressed user.
Others, of course, had jokes: “Zepto beta-testing mid-air deliveries” and “Always carry a lighter, even if you don’t smoke. You never know when paragliding duties call.”
If nothing else, this viral moment proves one thing: in Goa, even gravity takes a holiday, and a lighter can spark joy—even mid-flight.
Constable to crorepati with Dubai villa
Move over Dhoom. The real-life escapades of ex-constable in Madhya Pradesh might just be the plot of Bollywood’s next blockbuster.
Picture this: a man who started as a humble constable in Madhya Pradesh’s transport department now stands accused of amassing crores, running shell companies, and buying a villa in Dubai worth Rs 150 crore.
It all began with a former sarpanch spotting two mysterious men parking an Innova next to his farm on December 19, 2024. Little did anyone know that this mundane act would unravel a web of corruption, deceit, and extravagance fit for a Don sequel. The Innova, by the way, is now being called the "Crime Chariot" on social media.
Our constable, who joined the department in 2015 on compassionate grounds after his father’s death, seemed to have ambitions that far outpaced his paycheck. He voluntarily retired in December 2023, allegedly to better funnel his “earnings” through a network of companies and family members.
Among his alleged acquisitions are luxury villas, sprawling fish farms, and prime land parcels, not to mention a national franchise of a school in Bhopal.
His business ventures sound like a family affair gone rogue. His mother and wife were allegedly made chairperson and director of the school unit, while his son got an entire construction company named after him. Move over nepotism; this is "Operation Dynasty"!
Officials claim our man purchased high-value properties in the names of family members and associates to avoid detection. Among the evidence unearthed were Rs 6 crore in fixed deposits, Rs 4 crore in bank accounts, and Rs 23 crore worth of immovable assets—all allegedly bought with illicit funds.
The ED raids across Bhopal, Gwalior, and Jabalpur on December 27 were straight out of a high-stakes drama. Eight premises were searched, incriminating documents were seized, and the scale of our man’s alleged corruption left investigators stunned. The federal agency’s spokesperson summed it up: “This is a classic case of illegal money funding a luxurious parallel empire.”
Now, who’s playing Sharma in the film adaptation? Ajay Devgn, are you free?
CA takes bill-splitting to the next level
Every possible solution leaves at least one person feeling overcharged. To avoid such a situation, one chartered accountant (CA) recently made a detailed Excel sheet to split the food bill between a group of friends that specifies exactly who paid how much during the outing and how much needs to be paid to them later.
The catch? Although the CA took every detail into account, netizens pointed out one error in the calculations posted as a photo/screenshot of the sheet. The column headers name the people in the group while the rows list the food items consumed and later, it mentions specific amounts paid by and owing to individual friends.
However, when it comes to splitting the bill for water, at Rs 2 per head for a group of six friends, the CA totalled it to Rs 10. Going by the calculations, the total should have been Rs 12.
The post has now gone viral on social media, gaining over seven lakh views. While some liked the idea others were curious about the attention to detail, others were not convinced of the need to do such calculations. Some questioned the CA for not using Splitwise. “Plus chances of error” Water - rs 2*6 = Rs 12 Splitwise wouldn’t make such a basic mistake :)" quipped in a second person.
“We used to just split the whole amount by the number of people. One can easily spot a simple calculation mistake too in this sheet,” said one.
Some claimed that “friends” wouldn’t go to the extent of making such sheets. A person opined, “Friends calculator = Divide equally or contribute as much as you have. Friends don’t do this sheet.” Another wrote, “I would pay good money to not have friends like this..”
Some lauded the time and efforts taken by the guy. “This is how I want to do it as well, but my friends are too judgemental about it!” a user wrote.
(Compiled by Atrayee Bose, Sohini Paul, Subharup Das Sharma, Payel Das, Aniket Jha)
