I mean the lesser-known Unicorn Society Apartments, where I live. We are a motley group of middle-class householders who have perforce given up our genteel dreams of living in villas and have instead bought the 2-BHKs and 3-BHKs that shady builders pass off as ‘refined living’. For those insulated against middle-class realities, ‘BHK’ refers to a bedroom-hall-kitchen set; even though anyone who calls that cramped living room a ‘hall’ needs spectacles. Or he deserves an award for creative writing!
But let us return to the excitement part. Again, for the edification of the ignorant, every housing society needs to have a residents’welfare association, headed by a president and a vice-president. Till now, the president of the Unicorn Society (POTUS for us) is Jai Bhai. We call him Jai Bhai ‘Dun because he was a lawyer in Dehradun. The vice-president is my neighbour Harish’s wife. She cackles like an old hyena, but her doting husband calls it ‘an infectious and joyful laugh’. Surprisingly, even with that laugh, she puts on airs because of her mixed ancestry, which includes English genes somewhere in her DNA chain. Would you believe that even as her mother had christened her Kamala—the lotus flower—she changed her name to Camilla? After sidelining Jai, she has been behaving as if she is Queen Camilla and not Camilla Harish.
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Denne historien er fra November 10, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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Say no to continual elections
Following the recommendations of a high-level committee led by former president Ram Nath Kovind to streamline the widely scattered schedule of national, state and local elections, the Union cabinet has reportedly approved two constitutional amendment bills for likely introduction in Parliament. Predictably, the return of the ‘one nation, one election’ issue to news has set off a flurry of objections by several opposition leaders.
Fabulously, fashionably funny
The third season of the Karan Johar-produced Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives dropped on Netflix, but articles criticising the show appear in some news site or the other almost daily. If it is so bad, why keep writing about it? And if it is so bad, why would the superpowers at Netflix, who are harder to meet than the prime minister, commission the show season after season?
All in the family
The Chitaras have been passing down the secret art of Mata Ni Pachedi through generations for more than 400 years now
Raise a toast to Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan is a New Year baby. At 45, she is aglow in the most beautiful way, having won the hearts and admiration of countless fans across the world, who watched the supremely talented actor take a public tumble on stage at a high-profile promotional event recently, sharing the platform with no less a dancer than the eternally graceful Madhuri Dixit.
Death no bar
Being alive is not a legal requirement to be elected president of the United States
The Lotus POTUS
You should visit us one of these days— there is so much excitement in our USA! No, I don’t mean the famous USA—the Ulhasnagar Sindhi Association of Mumbai.
RAY OF HOPE
Actor and cancer survivor Lisa Ray talks to oncologist Dr Jame Abraham about inner strength and her surrogacy journey
LEVERAGE AI TO ENHANCE WORK
AT THE WEEK Health Summit, Siddharth Bagga, head (retail, CPG and health care), Google Cloud, elaborated on the significant work that Google has been doing in health care through artificial intelligence (AI).
PRESSURE POINTS
Author and MP Shashi Tharoor and motivational speaker Gaur Gopal Das on how to find healing and meaning in today's world
MEDICINE WITH PURPOSE
Artificial intelligence should not replace but rather aid doctors, said experts at THE WEEK’s Health Summit