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We Need To Ensure That Our Army Officers' Home Life Is Warm And Happy

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When was the last time you witnessed a male army officer cry his heart out? Never, right? For the soldier, it is almost a sin to admit to the stress and strain he faces in front of anyone, let alone the media. Our men don't snivel and sob or make their troubles public, just as a tiger never cries. They are a breed apart, positive to the core even in the most downbeat circumstances.

It's only when you look a little closer that you realise that our army is plagued by something commonly known as PAS or Pressure, Anxiety and Stress syndrome. It's not just about pay, perks and promotions; there are a number of issues that on a day-to-day basis take a heavy toll on an army officer and his family, mentally as well as emotionally.

A majority of army stations do not have good schools and one is left with two choices — either the family stays separated or compromises on the child's school. A third option would be sending the child to a boarding school. But think about boarding school expenses and again an army officers' child takes a beating. Army children do get good exposure to physical activities such as horse riding, swimming, tennis, basketball and golf, and quality schooling would be a natural extension to this. Sadly, that is not possible in many cases. A better salary would definitely help to some extent.

There are a number of issues that on a day-to-day basis take a heavy toll on an army officer and his family, mentally as well as emotionally.

There are instances of couples staying together only for 3-4 years after 11-12 years of marriage. Rest goes into the field tenures. An oft repeated incident is of children referring to their fathers as "uncles" who come back home after a long period. By the time they get used to their brand new "papas" it is time to say goodbye again. Field tenures should not be assigned too often.

When an army officer goes on a posting he, along with his family, has to stay for 3-4 months in a room provided by the officer's mess, since a temporary accommodation is allotted only after a waiting period of 3-4 months. Though comfortable, temporary accommodations can be nightmarish if any stay-over guests land up. By the time a nice and spacious permanent accommodation is allotted, the next posting is due again. A Marriage Accommodation Project (MAP) should be started in all the stations. Looking after aging parents is another grave concern for every soldier. Frequent shiftings, lack of healthcare facilities in small stations, bad road or air connectivity, make it difficult to have old parents stay with you.

An oft repeated incident is of children referring to their fathers as "uncles" who come back home after a long period.

Many army officers are facing rejection in marriage proposals now as girls are becoming more career oriented and the only job possible for an army wife is that of teaching. Frequent postings wreak havoc on an army wife's professional aspirations.

They might not immediately seem important, but issues such as these are vital to a soldier's well being. A few corrective measures and a little better planning will go a along way in addressing things rather than merely politicising the issue. Or else, this tribe of jubilant jolly good fellows will become endangered.


6 Wild Claims Trump Made In His Bizarre New York Times Interview

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President Donald Trump says he talked about

In an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, President Donald Trump made a series of shocking statements about his administration’s ties to Russia, ongoing investigations into collusion with a foreign government and his waning happiness with senior officials in the White House. Here are some of the most eyebrow-raising passages from the exclusive sit-down: 

You can read the Times’ full story here and excerpts from their interview here

Trump would not have appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions if he’d known he would recuse himself from the Russia probe.

Jeff Sessions takes the job, gets into the job, recuses himself. I then have ― which, frankly, I think is very unfair to the president. How do you take a job and then recuse yourself? If he would have recused himself before the job, I would have said, ‘Thanks, Jeff, but I can’t, you know, I’m not going to take you.’ It’s extremely unfair, and that’s a mild word, to the president.”

Sessions recused himself from any future investigations into Russian influence on the 2016 presidential campaign after The Washington Post reported he had met with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice last year and failed to disclose the meetings. He had previously told the Senate Judiciary Committee under oath he had not had any “communications with the Russians” during the presidential campaign, which he participated in as a Trump surrogate. 

Trump said the office of special counsel Robert Mueller is full of conflicts of interest.

“He was up here and he wanted the job,” Mr. Trump said. After he was named special counsel, “I said, ‘What the hell is this all about?’ Talk about conflicts. But he was interviewing for the job. There were many other conflicts that I haven’t said, but I will at some point.”

When Mueller was chosen to lead the Justice Department’s probe into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, he garnered widespread praise from both sides of the aisle and was championed as an investigator with “sterling credentials.” However, Trump implies that Mueller may have had a conflict of interest because he was on a shortlist to replace fired FBI Director James Comey. When he was named special counsel, Trump’s surrogates quickly began work to undercut Mueller’s integrity, saying they questioned his impartiality due to his longtime friendship with Comey. News outlets the president is known to follow, including Fox News and InfoWars, have continued to cast doubt on the investigation, labeling it with a favorite phrase of Trump’s: “a witch hunt.”

The president claimed his second, previously undisclosed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin lasted 15 minutes and “adoption” came up. 

“The meal was going, and toward dessert I went down just to say hello to Melania, and while I was there I said hello to Putin. Really, pleasantries more than anything else. It was not a long conversation, but it was, you know, could be 15 minutes. Just talked about ― things. Actually, it was very interesting, we talked about adoption.”

The White House acknowledged Tuesday that Trump held a second, private conversation with Putin at the G-20 summit in Germany earlier this month. According to Ian Bremmer, the president of a consulting firm called the Eurasia Group, the talk lasted for about an hour and the only other person in on the conversation was a Kremlin interpreter. Bremmer told the Times that guests at the dinner where the interaction occurred were “confused” and “flummoxed” by it.

“Never in my life as a political scientist have I seen two countries ― major countries ― with a constellation of national interests that are as dissonant while the two leaders seem to be doing everything possible to make nice and be close to each other,” Bremmer told Bloomberg’s Charlie Rose.

The White House disputed the characterization of the talk as a “meeting” and said it lasted a short while. 

“It was pleasantries and small talk,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said.

Trump accused Comey, whom he abruptly fired in May, of using an unverified dossier of compromising material to keep his job.

“In my opinion, he shared it so that I would think he had it out there,” Mr. Trump said. As leverage? “Yeah, I think so,” Mr. Trump said. “In retrospect.”

The president dismissed the assertions in the dossier: “When he brought it to me, I said this is really, made-up junk. I didn’t think about any of it. I just thought about, man, this is such a phony deal.”

According to his testimony last month to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Comey first informed Trump about the existence of the dossier ― compiled by a former British spy, Christopher Steele ― in January after U.S. intelligence agents decided he should be told before anything was published by the media. Comey said the president again denied anything alleged in the document was accurate during a private dinner later that month and urged the then-director to investigate the material.

“I replied that he should give that careful thought because it might create a narrative that we were investigating him personally, which we weren’t, and because it was very difficult to prove a negative,” Comey said in his prepared remarks. “He said he would think about it and asked me to think about it.”

The president once more denied the allegations in a call in late March, saying he “had not been involved with hookers in Russia,” Comey recalled.

Mueller would cross a “red line” if he looked into the Trump family’s finances beyond Russia.

“If Mueller was looking at your finances and your family finances, unrelated to Russia — is that a red line?”

“I would say yeah. I would say yes.”

As the Times reports, Trump did not say if he would consider firing Mueller, noting, “I can’t answer that question because I don’t think it’s going to happen.” Only the deputy attorney general who appointed the special counsel can directly fire him (that would be Rod Rosenstein, who is in charge of such decisions as Sessions has recused himself). However, Trump could fire Rosenstein and, as Politico reports, “continue down the line until a DOJ official acquiesced.”

Trump complained about Rosenstein, describing him as a man Sessions “hardly knew” and alluding that he was annoyed the deputy attorney general was “from Baltimore.”

“I said, ‘Who’s your deputy?’ So his deputy he hardly knew, and that’s Rosenstein, Rod Rosenstein, who is from Baltimore. There are very few Republicans in Baltimore, if any. So, he’s from Baltimore.”

Rosenstein was born in Philadelphia and lived in Bethesda, Maryland, when he was U.S. attorney for the state.

He has been described as the “poster child for the professional, competent, ethical and fair-minded prosecutor,” and he told The Baltimore Sun in April he was ready to take up the No. 2 job at the Justice Department “without regard to partisan political consideration.”

Rosenstein made headlines earlier this year after a memo he drafted about Comey was cited by the president as his reasoning for firing the FBI director. In the document, Rosenstein criticized Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, but the deputy attorney general reportedly threatened to quit after he was painted by the White House as the driving force behind the dismissal of Comey.

His nomination earned bipartisan support, and the Senate voted 94-6 to confirm him.

Shashi Tharoor Has Been Seeking Help From BJP In Sunanda Pushkar Murder Case, Alleges Subramanian Swamy

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NEW DELHI -- The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Delhi Police to give a status report in three days in connection with the death of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.

The court has also asked to mention all that the Delhi Police has done till now in 3.5 years.

The next date of hearing is August 1.

Even the Home Ministry is to file a status report within three days.

The petitioner in the case, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday categorically said that it is clearly a murder and that Tharoor has been seeking help from a few people of the saffron party as well.

"Let me make a charge that Shashi Tharoor is seeking the help of some elements in my own party (the BJP). I have brought this to the attention of the Prime Minister and I am thankful to him to have given me a free hand. He has said nobody will intervene in the investigation," Swamy said.

Swamy further said that the Delhi Police has no objection with a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case.

"The Delhi Police said that they have no objection with the CBI inquiry, but they would like to tell what they have done in the case in 3.5 years. There is no status report given by the police yet. What was given is that they said they wanted to give in writing. Both, the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police, will file the status report within three days," he said.

"I don't want the Delhi Police to be out of it. I want them to be a part of the SIT. The court needs to monitor so that political interests do not intervene in favor of Shashi Tharoor," Swamy added.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead at a suite in a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.

Swamy on July 6 this year had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored enquiry into the mysterious death of Sunanda.

During the hearing, the Delhi High Court observed that there is a delay in the case and asked Swamy as to why he had come at such a later stage.

The Delhi HC also stated that during the time of the case, Tharoor may have been in power, but asks what influence he wields now.

To this, Swamy submitted a statement that said: "I've come after exhausting all other possibilities. Tharoor is still an MP and belongs to the largest Opposition party."

Also on HuffPost India:

Why Hillary Clinton Is Really Unpopular – Again

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Hillary Clinton analyzed her defeat at the Women for Women lunch in New York in May.

Hillary Clinton is even less popular now than when she was running for president.

Just 39 percent of Americans view Clinton favorably, according to a Bloomberg national poll conducted last week and released on Monday. A year ago, when Clinton was the presumptive Democratic nominee, her favorability was at 43 percent. The former secretary of state is viewed slightly more negatively than President Donald Trump, who has historically low poll numbers for a president this early in his administration.

That puts Clinton at odds with every losing presidential candidate since 1992. Except for Clinton, the defeated candidate saw an increase in favorability ratings after Election Day, according to Gallup data.

The Bloomberg poll didn’t get into reasons for Clinton’s decline in favorability. But there is, of course, one thing that sets her apart from the pack of failed candidates: Clinton is a woman.

In follow-up interviews, Bloomberg poll respondents said their negative feelings about Clinton had nothing to do with her loss. Instead, they emphasized how unlikable they consider Clinton ― echoing the opinions of many voters during the 2016 campaign.

“She did not feel authentic or genuine to me,” Chris Leininger, 29, an insurance agent from Fountain Valley, California, told Bloomberg. “She was hard to like.”

That’s neither an unusual nor a surprising sentiment. Women with strong ambitions and opinions typically take a likability hit, Colleen Ammerman, director of Harvard Business School’s Gender Initiative, told HuffPost.

A mountain of research on women leaders has found that the idea of a powerful woman runs counter to most people’s expectations for what’s considered feminine ― quiet, supportive, nurturing and definitely not ambitious.

The disconnect puts female leaders in what’s known as the double-bind ― strong bosses are penalized for not acting “like women,” and those who lean the other way and try to display more characteristically feminine traits are penalized for being weak leaders.

Clinton’s probably the best-known example of this phenomenon. She’s been criticized for being too loud, but also for smiling too much.

In the past, Clinton’s favorability ratings tended to go up when she was not actively running for office. In December 2012, when she was secretary of state, 70 percent of Americans viewed Clinton positivelyaccording to Bloomberg.

But since her loss in November, Clinton has stayed in the public eye and has continued to voice her opinions. That’s likely stoked anxiety and discomfort among Americans, Ammerman said.

Clinton opened up about why she thinks she lost to Trump in an interview in April with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, and again in May in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at a conference.  

Clinton said she took personal responsibility for her defeat, but also cited the last-minute announcement from then-FBI Director James Comey of a reopened investigation into her emails as a decisive factor in Trump’s victory. She’s not the only one who’s cited Comey’s letter as a potent October surprise leading to her loss.

Yet the comments were met with rage and disbelief from certain corners, writes Rebecca Traister in New York magazine.

Here’s how Gersh Kuntzman put it in the Daily News: “Hey, Hillary Clinton, shut the f―― up and go away already.” 

New York Times politics reporter Glenn Thrush tweeted “mea culpa-not so much.” Countless others rage-tweeted at Clinton ― the audacity of her trying to analyze her loss.

Ammerman said there was an element of gendered backlash in the response. Clinton’s willingness to be vocal about being ambitious and wanting to win did little to endear her to the Americans already uncomfortable with a woman audacious enough to want to be president.

It’s hard not to see the sexism in the response, though certainly many of these men aren’t aware of it. “The idea that she shouldn’t mention the Comey letter when the entire nation and the most respected statisticians are considering its impact is so strange,” Amanpour told Traister later. “If she were a man, would she be allowed to mention it? As a woman, I am offended by the double standards applied here. Everyone shrieks that Hillary was a bad candidate, but was Trump a good candidate?”

You could argue that we live in a highly polarized time, and perhaps that’s why public opinion has not bounced back in Clinton’s favor. But other Democrats haven’t taken a popularity hit. In fact, former President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden have both seen their favorability ratings rise since November in Bloomberg’s polling.

Most losing presidential candidates have an easier time and a more generous reception from the public. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who largely disappeared from view after he lost the 2012 presidential election, saw a 4-point increase in favorability after his defeat. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) stayed in the public eye as a senator after his presidential loss in 2008, and his numbers shot up significantly. Before the election, 50 percent of Americans viewed him favorably. After he lost to Obama, McCain’s favorability rose to 64 percent.

To be sure, none of those men lost to Trump, an inexperienced and incompetent political leader feared and disliked by a bipartisan array of people. And, as Traister pointed out, it’s easy and natural to blame the whole Trump thing on Clinton, rather than to dissect the myriad other reasons for his rise.

It’s painful to re-litigate the election for a lot of people ― though Trump certainly keeps trying ― and maybe that contributes to the feeling of wanting Clinton to just disappear.

Having lived through the 2000 election, I don’t remember this level of vitriol and blame leveled at Al Gore ― arguably as stiff and awkward a presidential candidate as Clinton. Indeed, just seven years after his loss to George W. Bush ― at a time when the country was struggling under that administration ― Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize.

There’s more to the Clinton negativity than Trump backlash, as this Bloomberg poll makes clear.

One poll respondent, 46-year-old Robert Taylor, voted for Clinton and said in a followup interview that he doesn’t blame her for Trump.

“I think my negativity about her would be there whether Trump was elected or not,” he said.

Right.

The Bloomberg poll was conducted by Selzer & Co. It surveyed 1,001 adults from July 8 to July 12, using live interviewers to reach both landlines and cellphones.

Also on HuffPost

Girl Dancing To ‘Despacito’ Is The Epitome Of Joy

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A video of a girl who drops everything to dance to "Despacito" is giving us life.

Over 66 million people have watched Niana Guerrero bust a move to Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's catchy tune, turning the young girl into an instant star.

In a Facebook clip shared by her and her brother Ranz's vlog page, Guerrero is seen breaking into dance every time the Spanish song comes on, whether that be in the streets, in a grocery store or while she's enjoying a hot meal.

Honestly, the pure joy Guerrero has for this song is enough to make us get up and dance too! Take a look for yourself below.

"Despacito" has been dubbed the song of the summer, so it makes sense that Guerrero would feel obligated to groove as soon as it comes on.

On Twitter, users can't quite figure out what makes the song so damn catchy.

According to music expert and agent Rick Eberle, "Despacito" is such a hit because of its beat, melody and lyrics.

"If you have all three, then you have the three musketeers," he told CBS2. "They're all going together, they're all playing together in perfect harmony. So that's what makes a hit."

He also added that the Latin beat in the song "just makes people start moving."

Also on HuffPost:

Sleep More To Stop Craving Junk Food

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There are few things in life that are better than a good night's sleep.

In fact, according to a recent study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, a restful night is so beneficial it may even make those mid-day and late-night junk food cravings disappear altogether.

view into open desk drawer containing chocolate muffin

"We found that employees who have a stressful workday tend to bring their negative feelings from the workplace to the dinner table," said the study's co-author Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang, of Michigan State University, in a news release. "However, another key finding showed how sleep helped people deal with their stressful eating after work. When workers slept better the night before, they tended to eat better when they experienced stress the next day."

The study, which looked at 235 workers in China, found the more stressed a worker was, the more junk food they would consume unless they had a good night's sleep before work.

Mature man sitting in sofa and working on laptop

"A good night's sleep can make workers replenished and feel vigorous again, which may make them better able to deal with stress at work the next day and less vulnerable to unhealthy eating," Chang said.

Chang's co-author Yihao Liu, from the University of Illinois, notes eating while stressed is a natural response used to relieve and regulate negative moods, but it is also a sign of diminished self-control.

"When feeling stressed out by work, individuals usually experience inadequacy in exerting effective control over their cognitions and behaviours to be aligned with personal goals and social norms," he said.

Smiling businessmen is discussion on downtown building deck at sunrise

Though food-related perks are often appreciated by employees, Chang and Liu insist that employers need to tackle work-related stressors head on as they have a potential for long-term damage.

Why India's Parliament Must Never Let The Lynching Debate Die

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People participate in Anti lynching protest from Kotwal Garden to Chaityabhoomi at Dadar, on July 3, 2017 in Mumbai.

When Mohammad Akhlaq was bludgeoned to death in front of his home in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri in 2015, merely on the suspicion of slaughtering and consuming a cow, the grisly nature of the crime shook the entire country. Newspapers were full of details of how a crowd scaled the boundary walls, forced their way into the house, dragged Akhlaq and his son out, and started raining blows on them till they were bloodied and unconscious.

It takes a macabre crime to shake the Indian conscience from its stupor, as the gruesome nature of the 2012 Delhi gangrape showed — triggering a movement that forced lawmakers to tighten India's rape laws. But since Akhlaq's death, there have been many incidents of beef vigilantism, sparked by a tidal wave of an aggressive nationalism centred around the glorification of the cow.

Apart from outrage on social media, condemnation by the Opposition, newspaper headlines that eventually slide from page 1 to page 4 in a few days, lynching deaths have come to be accepted as the new normal in India. As incident after incident of mob violence continues to happen — provoked by reasons ranging from caste atrocities, beef consumption and cow trade, inter-faith marriages, and petty crimes — medieval mob justice has slowly become as much a reality of India as its aspiration to achieve China's growth trajectory.

Data collated by IndiaSpend showed 86% of those who died in incidents related to cow protectionism are Muslims. In the last eight years, 63 cases fall under this category, of which 61 took place after the BJP-led government at the Centre came to power in 2014. Twenty "cow-terror attacks" were reported in the first six months of 2017, a 75% jump over the total number of such incidents in 2016, the report said.

The perpetrators, under the garb of cow protection, have carried out attack after attack, emboldened by the lack of condemnation by their political masters or any serious legal repercussions. If anything, police have been prompt in targeting the families of the victims with FIRs.

It was expected that when the monsoon session begins, the Opposition would raise hell in Parliament, reminding the Centre of its responsibility to protect citizens from mob killings. Because it's clear that tepid cautionary messages on Twitter against such thuggery is not working. Even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's condemnation of cow vigilantism, not once but twice, such crimes have continued to take place across several states.

In a searing speech, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the lynchings were not led by any religious cause, but were a product of the "Sangh Parivar battle against everybody".

Azad minced no words to convey that lynchings were happening as part of a tacit understanding between the Sangh and the ruling BJP to reap a toxic political harvest.

"This is the Parivar's battle against everybody. They get protection. I know the Prime Minister has given a statement. I accept the home minister has given a statement... This is happening because of an understanding — you do your work and we will do our work. We will give statements but you continue what you are doing. Continue doing it," he said.

Left to counter a united Opposition charge against lynchings, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resorted to classic Indian politicalspeak to deflect an uncomfortable subject. He claimed that the lynchings were a conspiracy to sideline the government's development agenda.

"The policy of our government and the party is clear, that we will not allow any destructive agenda to dominate on our development agenda. This is a conspiracy. Anyone could be doing it. I am not taking any party names. I don't want to get into it," Naqvi said.

BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Congress of "giving priority to incidents of lynching by the mob and cow vigilantism, and giving them a communal colour" instead of focusing on national security.

'Political conspiracy' is a convenient smokescreen for our politicians to abdicate responsibility. Yogi Adityanath did it after the Saharanpur riots, and Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly used it to distance her party from the Narada tapes.

It's all very noble of Naqvi to remind the Opposition of the Modi government's abhorrence towards "destructive forces" and the need of the hour to stand united. But unfortunately, when there is little action on the ground to stop such crimes once and for all, his words ring hollow. Development cannot be exclusive of human rights. An agenda of growth must include the poorest of poor — including their job security, protecting their right to eat whatever they want, and guarding their right to life. The safekeeping of India's pluralistic culture should be a priority in it's roadmap of development.

Dismissing lynchings — 14 in Jharkhand, 11 in Uttar Pradesh, 9 in Haryana, 5 in Rajasthan and 4 in Gujarat, as listed out by Azad — as political conspiracy, will prove to be counterproductive in the long run if the government is serious about cracking down on cow vigilantes.

As CPM leader Sitaram Yechury pointed out yesterday: "India is the only country with universal suffrage, or right to vote for all, from the very beginning which was a revolutionary step at that point of time. Seventy years earlier we felt pride in saying that no other western democracy could have the courage to say that from day one we gave universal suffrage to everybody in our country irrespective of their religion, caste, gender. It is that equality today that is being questioned and being severely trampled upon by these instances of lynching."

Politicians voiced their demand to ban extra-judicial gau raksha groups who have the mandate to arbitrarily act as vigilantes. If not stopped, they will strengthen their organisational structure and replicate their methods of search-and-attack in all Indian states.

The debate is not whether mob lynchings have happened more under UPA's rule or less during the BJP's regime: the issue is that they need to stop and all leaders, across political parties, must sensitise their workers at the grassroots level to separate cow protectionism from vigilantism. And the best place to have this debate in is the Parliament — a prime symbol of India's robust democracy.

Also on HuffPost

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Can You Solve The Intelligence Test That's Left People On Facebook Confused?

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A maths puzzle is boggling minds around the world, but can you solve it?

The test has been shared by thousands on Facebook after it was posted by the page Wikr.com. 

To solve the problem, you simply have to work out the number to replace the question mark.

According to Wikr.com, only one in every 1,000 people can master it.

(Read on to discover the answer.)

While one plus four does indeed equal five, two plus five does not equal 12. So, what’s the catch?

The puzzle actually has a few possible solutions. 

Solution One: 

1 + 4 = 5

Then on the next line, add the answer from the previous equation to 2 + 5. That gives you the answer of 12.

The rest of the list will go as follows:

12 + 3 + 6 = 21

21 + 8 + 11 = 40

Solution Two:  

1 + 4 = 5. You could also reach that answer by adding 1 to 4 multiplied by 1.

With the second line, it would be: 2 + (2 x 5) = 12

The rest of the list will go as follows:

3 + (3 x 6) = 21

8 + (8 x 11) = 96

So to solve the puzzle, you can either give the answer 40 or 96.

Solution Three:

Solution three is a little more complex to explain. For you super mathematicians, the answer would be would be 201 using the following sequence:

5 = 5 using base 6

7 = 12 using base 5

9 = 21 using base 4

19 = 201 using base 3

If that sounds like gobbledygook, you’ll find an explainer of base conversions here.

Headache? Us too.

H/T: wikr.com


Kangana Ranaut Rushed To The Hospital After Suffering Head Injury On Sets Of Rani Laxmibai Biopic

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MUMBAI -- Actress Kangana Ranaut has suffered an injury while shooting Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi in Hyderabad and has been advised rest for five days.

Kangana got severely injured during an intense sword- fighting sequence with co-star Nihar Pandya, when the latter's sword accidentally hit her forehead, causing a deep cut.

The 30-year-old actress was soon rushed to a hospital and got 15 stitches on her forehead. The doctors have also advised her to rest for a few days.

"I am a bit embarrassed to be thrilled to have a battle scar on my face. Also, people from my team have been telling me that it's like that Peshwa teeka that Manikarnika wore," Kangana said in a statement.

"It's a bit dramatic but I am excited that my face was covered in blood and I got a genuine and authentic glimpse of the Queen's life."

The actress has been training in sword fighting under Hollywood stunt director Nick Powell and also taking horse riding lessons.

Directed by Krish, "Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi" will see Kangana in the role of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.

A Delhi Doctor's Ola Ride From Hell Ends In A Ransom Demand, Police Chase And Finally, Rescue

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Image used for representational purpose only.

When Srikanth Goud, a Delhi-based doctor from Hyderabad boarded an Ola cab on 6 July, he couldn't have known he was actually stepping into a criminal saga that would involve ransom demands, 25 police teams, 200 cops, two rescue operations, and end, finally, in a dramatic shootout and rescue on 19 July. And it all started with two disgruntled drivers out to exact revenge on Ola, the cab-aggregator company they felt had short-changed them.

Dr Goud unwittingly found himself in the middle of a criminal conspiracy when he booked an Ola cab to return home to Gautam Nagar from a birthday party in Noida on July 6. According to a Times of India report, the driver picked the doctor up from near Preet Vihar metro station, where his friend had dropped him. Once inside the cab, the driver locked the doors and windows and drove towards Noida, threatening to kill Dr Goud if he raised an alarm. In Noida, three co-conspirators joined the driver in the car and they then drove off to Dadri in UP.

The kidnappers' first call was to an Ola call centre, demanding Rs 5 crore as ransom.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the kidnappers' first call was to an Ola call centre, demanding Rs 5 crore as ransom. The company informed the police and shared the driver and vehicle details with them. The kidnappers also called Dr Goud's workplace, Metro Hospital, and asked them to pressure Ola to pay the ransom money. Meanwhile, they took videos of Dr Goud in a pitiful condition, begging for water, and sent it to his family and Ola.

The kidnappers also kept changing their location and using different handsets and numbers to confuse the cops, but eventually, using the meta data from the videos sent by the kidnappers, the Delhi Police was able to pinpoint that the doctor was being held near Meerut. Dr Goud was kept drugged and tied to a chair in an abandoned under-construction building in Meerut, reported HT.

They tried to escape, but couldn't, and opened fire. Three to four rounds of bullets were exchanged, during which one of the kidnappers was hit on the thigh.

The first encounter took place on Sunday, 16 July. The cops apprehended the kidnappers near a sugarcane field in Peerpur village while they were trying to flee with the doctor in a WagonR, but they managed to escape.

By now, the police had also identified all the kidnappers and had located their families in Daurala, Dadri and other areas near Meerut.

On Wednesday, July 19, the police again received intelligence on the kidnappers' whereabouts and traced them in Meerut's Shatabdi Nagar area. The kidnappers were once again trying to change locations, when the police surrounded them. They tried to escape, but couldn't, and finding themselves cornered, they opened fire. Three to four rounds of bullets were exchanged, during which one of the kidnappers was hit on the thigh. Dr Goud was finally rescued from his kidnappers after 13 ordeal-filled days at around 5pm on Wednesday.

The two prime conspirators are former Ola drivers and wanted to teach a lesson to the company for not paying their incentives.

Out of the nine men involved in the kidnapping, four are in police custody while five are still absconding, with the Delhi Police hot on their heels. The two prime conspirators, who managed to escape, are former Ola drivers and wanted to teach a lesson to the company for not paying their incentives, reported TOI.

Sources in the Meerut Police told TOI that ever since the first ransom call was traced back to Daurala 10 days ago, at least 25 Delhi Police teams had been stationed in west UP. Even now, raids are being carried on in Meerut to nab the absconding kidnappers, particularly the two main conspirators. "A team led by SHO Preet Vihar Maninder Singh has been tracking the rest of the culprits in different places," TOI quoted Omvir Singh, DCP, east, as saying.

Dr Goud, meanwhile, is understandably shocked. According to the HT report, while he was fed, he was found to be in a weak condition, beaten up and in a state of shock upon rescue. He will soon receive counselling.

Ola Cabs, in an email response to HuffPost India, said that the company would cooperate with the police in their investigations to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice. "We will also support and assist the (Goud) family to help them fully recover from the aftershocks of this harrowing crime," Ola's spokesperson said.

After Terrible Experience With Uber, Delhi Woman Starts A Conversation About Wheelchair-Friendly Cabs

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Like any other Delhi resident, Preeti Singh likes to take an occasional cab when she travels around the city. Singh, who is wheelchair-bound, says she doesn't want sympathy for her condition, but aims to live her life like anyone else. But sometimes unpleasant experiences with private cabs pose an impediment for her mobility, she says.

Preeti took to Facebook to narrate her experiences with two Uber drivers in one day who were unhappy about the fact that she was on a wheelchair.

"Gaadi ganda ho jaega (the car will get dirty) is something that even other Uber drivers have told me several times. But I don't know what happened that day, I usually try not to get upset about these things," she told HuffPost India over the phone.

Her intent was not to get attention or sympathy but create a conversation about the difficulties faced by people with disabilities.

"I was going out after a long time that day. And both the cabs created a fuss about my wheelchair. I usually tell the Uber drivers before they arrive that I am on a wheelchair. The first guy was created a fuss about it in the beginning, but he calmed down after a while. He also created an issue while I was getting off at my destination because it takes time," she says and adds, "But I didn't say anything."

She says that it takes her about 5-6 minutes to get off a cab since she has to be assisted.

But when she was coming back home the same day, she says the second cab guy was extremely rude. "It's the same reaction I get many times. I am immune to it. There was once an Ola driver who had told me 'aap utar jaiye (please get off)'. Drivers have even told me I should travel in my own car."

She says the day these two incidents took place, it was raining heavily. "I also feel bad sometimes. So I asked my brother to get a towel so that after I got off he could clean the car just to appease the driver. My brother did clean the car, when the driver got scared and said I will do it on my own."

But unlike other days when such incidents take place, she says she couldn't sleep at night. "My brother, who is much younger, saw me awake and asked me what happened, and I started crying."

She says "I am a strong person, being wheelchair bound is not all of my identity, but that day I thought I should talk about it."

Her Facebook post has since gone viral:

However, she says that Uber got in touch with her 14 hours later, only after NDTV contacted them. "They were really nice to me and apologised. They said they are working at the backend to see how they can put something on their app for people with disabilities."

But, Preeti says, they have not told her by when the changes will be put into place. In an email, someone called Ryan from the Community Operations Team at Uber told her, "I''ve checked your account and see an outstanding amount of INR 131.90, however, I see no reason for you to be charged, which is why I've dropped the charges. That being said, I completely understand that the motive of your message wasn't for a refund, but it was for making a positive change for people who are disabled."

"The easiest thing that they can do is have a carrier on top of the car, or boot space. And to train their drivers to be polite. I have had some amazing drivers too, but can't always pray that I will get a nice person every time."

She says, "Accessibility is a clause in Uber, I could have sued them."

She is aware that Uber in New York city was sued for not being disabled-friendly.

In the email, Uber promised her that they will take steps to improve standards of drivers. "Considering that you've made a special request of not taking severe action against any driver partner, we will work towards improving our driver standards instead of imposing any action against the drivers in question."

She agrees that the basic step is sensitization, but in the long run they need to introduce other features. "A simple option in the app for people with disabilities would be a great step. In other developed countries, cabs even have ramps."

Preeti says she likes to travel around alone, and often takes the Delhi Metro and DTC buses. While she says the metro is very accessible, she says even DTC bus conductors don't know that some buses have ramps for the wheelchair-bound. "They all know me by face. I have had to tell so many of them how to use the ramp. They also get irritated with me sometimes."

And while her post has seemingly created ripples in Uber and social media in India, Preeti, who is a CA intern, plans to start a YouTube channel about her own life that can create conversations and awareness about people with disabilities.

Also on HuffPost India

I'm A Grandmother, I Have HIV, And I Can't Pass It On

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Often the first thing people ask me is how did it happen to me, how did I get HIV? I guess that's because HIV is often associated with sexuality, and I'm a heterosexual woman. But the answer is simple. Like most people with HIV, gay and straight; I had sex.

I was diagnosed with HIV on 19th March 2008. I was in a relationship and we'd had unprotected sex. But he, like 1 in 7 people who are living with HIV, didn't know he had the virus.

I'd gone to the sexual health clinic because I had an STI and while I was there I was offered an HIV test. In my head I weighed up if I need one, as I thought my risk was low. But I decided to take one anyway.

I was diagnosed there and then. It was a total shock. I felt like a cloud floating around the room, unsure what to think and feel. My cousin had come with me to the clinic and when I told her she was screaming and wailing with shock and upset. She thought I'd been given a death sentence, as did I.

I told my husband who I was separated from, and he looked after me for three months. In that time I developed general anxiety disorder and an eating disorder. If you saw pictures of me from then and compared to now, you wouldn't recognise me. I hid myself behind sunglasses and a big hat.

I was lucky with the support around me. My health adviser from the hospital where I was receiving my treatment even came with me to tell my mum and dad. I remember my mum saying 'god, she's going to die', because like me when I was first diagnosed, she thought I couldn't live well with HIV.

Three years after my diagnosis, I met other HIV positive women at a gathering in London, called Pozfem, after a support worker in Dorset convinced me to attend. This was a really big moment for me - to meet other women in the same position as me, and to share experiences.

After learning I was living with HIV, I didn't date for a while. I felt so unattractive. When you are feeling so unappealing you think you need approval from other people, and when I went after that I got knockbacks. Dating can be one of the hardest things for people living with HIV, simply because of the ignorance and stigma still surrounding our long term health condition.

samantha

I've faced a lot of stigma in healthcare settings, which often surprises people, but the lack of knowledge and out-dated beliefs around HIV means the wrong information is being passed on, and you are treated as a risk. Once a nurse threw medication into my room as she didn't want to come inside because she feared I might infect her. I've been asked by medical professionals countless times 'how did you catch HIV', 'do you use drugs', and 'are you a sex worker'?

There is no reason to treat me any differently - because I can't pass on HIV. This is one of the main things people still can't believe and can't understand. I'm on effective HIV treatment so I can't pass it on. I, like tens of thousands of others who are living with HIV and on effective treatment, am uninfectious. This is because the treatment reduces the amount of the virus in our blood to such a low levels, 'undetectable' levels, that we no longer pass on the virus.

This is one of the biggest developments since the start of the HIV epidemic, yet people don't know it. It means people can have sex, relationships and children, with someone living with HIV, without becoming infected. For some it can sound a bit unreal - but it's true. And if everyone know this we could stop HIV stigma.

Five years after being diagnosed I started effective HIV treatment. When I started it wasn't all about not being able to pass it on, it was more about longevity of life and being healthy, as well as for me, feeling part of society and being more "normal" again. But now, following the findings of the pioneering PARTNER study last year - which looked at 58,000 instances of sex without a condom between couples where one was undetectable and one was HIV negative and found zero HIV transmissions - I have the confidence to say I'm healthy, living well and can't pass it on.

Today, 10 years after my diagnosis, I'm very open about my HIV status. All my family know, including my a daughter and son, as well as my two lovely grandchildren, even though they don't fully understand everything yet.

At the beginning I always did consider them first, and especially with my granddaughter who is going to be 13 this year. She coming to that age when they start talking about things. I've gone into schools to talk about HIV to 13 year olds, and I've seen them when they're nudging each other. I even had one boy who asked me if I'd had sex with a monkey. He did get asked to leave the assembly, but you can't blame him, because that's what he might have been told.

samantha and parSamantha (left) and friend.

But this also highlights the battle we're fighting against HIV stigma and ignorance. There is still a lot to do to bring public attitudes and awareness up to date with these medical advances.

Just last month, a Terrence Higgins Trust survey revealed that 40% of people would be uncomfortable going on a date with someone on effective HIV treatment, and shockingly only 9% of the public know that people on effective treatment can't pass on HIV.

We need to challenge stigma with science. HIV no longer has to prevent people living normal, happy and long lives, but we know that it does.

That's why I am backing Terrence Higgins Trust's Can't Pass It On campaign, which aims to bust stigma and help stop HIV transmissions. I want everyone to know, that Samantha Dawson, grandmother of two, is living well with HIV and can't pass it on.

Life Less Ordinary is a weekly blog series from HuffPost UK that showcases weird and wonderful life experiences. If you've got something extraordinary to share please email ukblogteam@huffingtonpost.com with LLO in the subject line. To read more from the series, visit our dedicated page.

WATCH: Ira Trivedi's 10-Minute Yoga For Great Hair

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For many of us, yoga is something health-junkies do every morning when they could be sleeping. Perhaps to overcome this misconception, and factor in the millions of people who lead rushed lives, yoga acharya Ira Trivedi — who is also the author of the best-selling book '10-Minute Yoga Solution' — has the perfect routine.

What if you could do a 10-minute yoga routine without getting off your couch — yoga for lazy people, if you will. What if you could get great hair by doing yoga everyday?

We caught up with Ira one summer morning in the heart of Lutyens Delhi, and she showed us how even 10 minutes of yoga everyday can transform your life.

Will Maharashtra's Social Boycott Law Be A Turning Point For Caste Politics In The State?

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One of the last good deeds that Pranab Mukherjee did as President of India was to give his assent to an Act that has been pending for a year since it was passed by the state legislature of Maharashtra.

Last month, Mukherjee gave a nod to the Maharashtra Prohibition of Social Boycott Act, 2015, which had been passed on 13 April 2016, but was sent to the Centre for review before it could be enacted. With the law coming into effect, atrocities based on caste, especially upjaati (sub-caste), are expected to decline over time, though, like any other legal provision, its successful implementation is tied up with a change in social mindset.

The social evil that the law addresses is pervasive and persistent: one of exclusion of certain groups from living a full life, accessing public benefits, participating in festivals and community rituals and so on, all of which are determined by a kangaroo court, run by the elders of a town or village as penalty for a perceived crime. A typical example of it would be people being persecuted, even killed, for daring to marry outside their caste or for trespassing on the social and economic terrains of their so-called social superiors.

With the presidential go-ahead, apart from the courts, no individual, group or organisation can no longer sit on judgment on anyone and/or discriminate against them in any sphere of life. Those accused of doing so, could be awarded a jail term of up seven years, a fine of up to ₹5 lakh, or both, depending on the case registered against them.

Last year, after the law was passed, HuffPost India spoke to human rights activists fighting for such an Act for a long time, including Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, who lobbied for it as well until he was assassinated in 2013.

READ: Maharashtra's New Law Against Social Boycott Could Spark A Renaissance, Say Activists

Most social-justice workers, while delighted by the passage of such a landmark legislation, were cautiously optimistic. With the appointment of special officers to detect and act upon instances of social boycott, the chances of corruption trickling into the system was feared. When the poor and disenfranchised, belonging to lower castes, are pitted agains the rich and influential, anyone can guess which way the odds are tilted.

As The Indian Express reported, the necessity for such a law was acutely felt in Maharashtra, where there is a rising trend of atrocities perpetrated by jaati panchayats, with 38 such cases reported from Raigad district in 2013-14 alone. Still, social boycott is less widespread in Maharashtra than, say, in Uttar Pradesh, experts say, and therefore more likely to be checked by the law.

The biggest deterrent to implementing the law, however, is in the fear of dire consequences that people of lower castes harbour for complaining against more powerful members of their community. In some cases, a legitimate grievance may incite worse ostracization and end up deepening inter-caste conflicts.

Also on HuffPost

Not Fake News: This Bengaluru Man Played The Guitar During His Brain Surgery

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Image used for representational purpose only.

In what seems to be news straight out of a Grey's Anatomy episode, a 32-year-old man from Bengaluru played the guitar while undergoing a seven-hour-long brain surgery. The man, a techie-turned-musician, was suffering from a condition called musician's dystonia, a neurological muscle disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, cramping three fingers on his left hand, reported The Times of India.

The cramps first started a year and a half ago due to long hours of practice, and last week, the man went under the knife for it. Doctors asked him to play the guitar as they operated to help them locate the affected areas of the brain. The treatment involved opening up the skull and "burning" the parts of the brain that were causing the convulsions. Since the man suffered from the problem only while playing the guitar, he was asked to continue playing during the surgery to provide real-time response to help the doctors target the exact problem area and perform the procedure with precision.

Since the man suffered from the problem only while playing the guitar, he was asked to continue playing during the surgery to provide real-time response.

The TOI report quoted Dr Sharan Srinivasan, a stereotactic and functional neurosurgeon at the Jain Institute of Movement Disorders and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, as saying, "Before the surgery, a special frame was fixed to his head with four screws going deep into the skull following which an MRI was conducted."

With the help of the MRI, three coordinates of the target area in the brain (8-9 cm deep, in this case), along with the entry point into the skull and the path to be followed during surgery, were identified. After that a 14 mm hole was drilled into the skull using local anaesthesia and a specialised electrode was passed into the brain. Stimulating it by playing the guitar confirmed the location of the problem and prevented future complications, TOI reported.

The operation was successful, and within three days, the man could return home to his life of music. "I was amazed to see my fingers improve magically on the operation table itself. By the end of the surgery, my fingers were 100% cured and I could move them like before," TOI quoted him as saying.

In 2013, Brad Carter, an actor and musician, played the guitar while surgeons fitted a pacemaker in his brain to treat the hand tremors caused by his tumour.

Sounds shocking? It isn't.

Patients playing music during complex brain surgery to provide immediate feedback to surgeons about possible effects on brain function is not a new thing. In 2013, Brad Carter, a Hollywood actor and musician, played the guitar while surgeons at UCLA fitted a pacemaker in his brain to treat the hand tremors caused by his tumour.

In 2015, a 33-year-old Brazilian man sang and played the guitar for six hours while undergoing surgery for his brain tumour to help his surgeons map the brain for possible loss of speech and motor functions.

In March this year, another 40-year-old man Brazilian man played the guitar in the middle of the operation and even rang up his wife mid-way to tell her he felt like a "warrior". His surgeons too claimed this was the quickest way to find out if they had made any error or if any parts of the brain were affected while removing the tumour.

To understand how it works, watch this wonderful video by Consequence of Sound.


Grown-Ass Actor Says He Doesn't Get The Fuss Around TV Show About 10-Year-Old Romancing A Woman

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In case you've entirely missed it, you'd already know that there's a show on Sony, called, Pehredaar Piya Ki.

The show is the ultimate testimony of the depths Indian television has plummeted to as it shows a 10-year-old boy falling in love with an 18-year-old woman. He also stalks her and photographs her.

This is a 10-year-old.

The show, produced by Shashi and Sumeet Mittal, has drawn a lot of criticism but the makers seem unfazed by it. Karan Wahi, a popular TV actor, even called out its stupidity in a viral Facebook post.

Now, one of the show's actor, Suyyash Rai has jumped to the show's defence.

Going by an interview he has given Bollywood Life, it seems he's pretty clueless as to why people are pissed with the show's concept. No, seriously, he doesn't get it.

He told the site, "I want to know what was so disgusting about the first two episodes that people got so riled up. We did not show Ratan fantasizing Diya. It is like in school, young boys, pre-teens do have crushes on their pretty teachers. They like them and they are not aware of what they are doing. Pehredaar Piya Ki is about how they end up getting married and the complications that follow."

Well, if an actor doesn't quite get the distinction between having a harmless crush on a teacher versus someone who actively acts on that crush, by stalking and photographing, then the problem is even bigger than it first appeared.

In an Instagram post, the actor tried passing of the show's undeniably problematic theme as 'entertainment.' He wrote, "Our motive is to entertain you guys not promote child marriage or anything. This show is different , plz dont judge it and jump onto conclusions (sic)"

He went on to say that since Sony has put the show out, they must have given it a thought. "A show cannot be put on air for two days and taken off. Shashi – Sumeet are sensible people and won't do anything foolish."

Well, foolish is definitely an understatement for this monstrosity.

It doesn't end there.

An interview of the actress, Tejaswi Wayangankar, (the female lead of the show) on YouTube, has her justifying the show's theme too.

She says being a feminist (lol) she was quite excited to be a part of the show, which is essentially about, ahem, women empowerment.

"It's a big decision for my character to marry such a young kid. So my character is both, strong and brave since the woman is the guardian of the guy and not the other way round," she says.

The whole scenario gets increasingly weird when the interviewer asks the boy, Afaan Khan, if he accidentally ends up calling her 'didi' (elder sister). With the confidence of a movie star, Afaan says, "No. Now, I'm used to calling her Diya. Even off-screen, I call her Diya."

25-Year-Old Stabbed To Death For Reportedly Marrying Dalit Woman In Haryana's Hisar District

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In an apparent case of honor killing, a 25-year-old man was stabbed to death allegedly by his wife's brother and uncle in Haryana's Hisar district.

Reports suggest, the deceased, Shyam Arora was stabbed at least six times by his wife Sapna's family members because the couple had married out of caste against the wish of their parents.

Sapna's brother Sahil along with his uncle, Pawan, and a friend had gone to meet the couple for the first time since their marriage. As the woman was in the kitchen preparing tea for her relatives, the trio reportedly stabbed Shyam in the chest and ran away.

Sapna soon raised an alarm and took Shyam to the hospital with the help from his relatives. Shyam succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday.

According to investigating officer Pawan Kumar, both Sahil and Pawan have been arrested. "Shyam's family has alleged that apart from Sahil and Pawan, other family members were also involved in the conspiracy. The investigation is still going on," Indian Express quoted Kumar saying.

The couple had reportedly eloped in January this year and had returned to Hisar two months ago. According to police sources, Sahil and Pawan were against the couple's marriage and during investigation even said that they were determined to kill both of them ever since they tied the knot and were only looking for an opportunity.

The couple had filed a police complaint when they started getting threats soon after tying the knot in January. However, with the intervention of a social panchayat, both parties had reached a compromise.

Also on HuffPost India:

In Ram Nath Kovind, India Gets Its Second Dalit President

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Earlier this year, Ram Nath Kovind and his family were denied entry to the Retreat Residence of the President of India in Shimla. He was told to seek permission from the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

In a country where politicians readily express their sense of entitlement, Kovind, who was the governor of Bihar at the time, did the opposite. His decision to quietly withdraw from the scene instead of making a fuss is what people remembered. "He did not mind," an official recalled.

Such is fate that two months later, Kovind can call the presidential retreat and the Rashtrapati Bhawan his home. The 71-year-old leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected today to be the 14th President of India.

He received 65.65 percent votes from lawmakers across the country, beating hollow his opponent, Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha speaker and Congress Party leader, who is also a Dalit.

Kovind is the second Dalit leader after K.R. Narayanan and the first politician linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to become the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Armed Forces. He is also the first leader from Uttar Pradesh to occupy the highest constitutional position in the country.

Kovind, a lawyer by profession and the father of two children, hails from Kanpur. He joined the BJP in 1991 after working for over 20 years as a government advocate in the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court.

While Kovind is linked to the RSS, the nature and extent of his connection with the Hindu nationalist organisation is unclear. BJP's national general secretary Ram Madhav has written that Kovind had joined the RSS and the Jana Sangh. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who backed Kovind's nomination, has said that he is "not a RSS swayamsewak," but briefly joined the organisation during the early nineties. Kovind, however, is not regarded as a Hindutva hardliner.

The BJP's electoral strength in parliament and state assemblies, combined with the support of its allies, had guaranteed an easy win for Kovind.

His nomination, one month earlier, was viewed as yet another move by the BJP to shed its upper caste image and bolster its growing strength in the Dalit community, with an eye on the 2019 general election.

There were few who had heard of Kovind until he was nominated as the BJP's presidential candidate on 19 June. Politicians and the public alike asked, "Kovind, who?" His once skeletal Wikipedia entry has expanded over the past few weeks, but only by a few nuggets of information. It is still the case that not a lot is known about the president, especially how he thinks and what he represents.

The picture of Kovind that has emerged is of an understated man, who has for decades played by the rules, steered clear of controversy, while steadily climbing the rungs of the BJP.

While he is admired for his work ethic, mild manners and decency, few find him to be either brilliant or charismatic. But somewhere down the road, Kovind had caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who singled him out during the campaign for the 2015 Bihar Assembly election. "Shriman Ram Nath Kovindji has given his all to the welfare of the oppressed, the dispossessed, the Dalit, the backward and the extremely backward, all his life," Modi said at the time.

READ: BJP's Choice Of 'Dalit Leader' Ram Nath Kovind As President Shows We Can Never Be Free Of Identity Politics

Dalit versus Dalit

Modi chose Kovind over BJP veterans including Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who have been sidelined since the former chief minister of Gujarat emerged as the undisputed leader of the BJP ahead of the 2014 general election.

The PM's decision to pick a Dalit candidate has gone down as a masterstroke. Not only did it silence the party veterans, it also silenced rivals who did not want to be seen opposing a Dalit candidate. As Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan put it, "If they don't support, it would mean they are anti-Dalits."

How could Bahujan Samaj Party Maywati, for instance, oppose a Dalit candidate from UP? In the aftermath of Kovind's nomination, the Congress Party's decision to field Meira Kumar, another Dalit, came across as an ill-thought out and reactionary move.

While the Congress Party failed to unite the Opposition behind Kumar, support for Kovind came from unexpected quarters including the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who heads the Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and his brother Shivpal Yadav.

Although both the BJP and the Congress Party denied playing identity politics, the presidential election morphed into a Dalit versus Dalit contest. Kumar chose to call it a battle of ideologies.

"Earlier, the presidential election used to be a fight between two individuals. For the first time, it is going to be a contest between two ideologies," she said. "I respect Kovindji, my fight is not against him, but against his ideology."

READ: Why Meira Kumar Is A Terrible Choice As Opposition's Presidential Candidate

Peepal tree to Bihar Governor

Kovind was born into a Dalit family in the village of Paraunkh in Kanpur on October 1, 1945. His family belongs to the community of Koris, who have traditionally been weavers. They owned no land. His father, Maikulal Kori, raised nine children on the money he earned running a small grocery store.

From his first lessons under a peepal tree and walking eight kilometers every day to get to high school, Kovind worked his way up to becoming a lawyer. He cracked the Indian Administrative Services exam in his third attempt, getting selected for the allied service. He chose to practice law instead.

While BJP president Amit Shah had described Kovind as belonging to a "poor Dalit family," Pyarelal, Kovind's elder brother, told the media that their father was the "Chaudhary of Paraunkh village," and they lived a normal life in a middle class family.

Deepak, Kovind's nephew, toldThe Indian Express that his uncle had denied favors to his family members, encouraging them to work hard instead.His nephew quoted Kovind as saying, "Maine jaise swayam safalta paayi, vaise tum log bhi mehnat karo." (I have achieved success by working hard, you should do the same).

From 1977 to 1979, Kovind was an advocate for the central government in the Delhi High Court. It was around this time that he also worked as the personal assistant for Morarji Desai, who formed the first non-Congress government since India gained independence. Kovind then went on to represent the central government in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.

After two decades of lawyering, Kovind spent the next 12 years as a member of the Rajya Sabha, getting elected from UP in 1994 and 2000.

Kovind's interventions in Rajya Sabha provide some insight into the man who is now president. In addition to championing the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Kovind came down heavily against the explosion of satellite television channels during the nineties and the "cultural invasion by foreign channels." He spoke against adult movies and uncensored content on these channel, and expressed concern about children wasting most of their time watching television. He also complained when the format of the popular music show Chitrahar on Doordarshan was changed, claiming that it was "not liked by the masses."

READ: What We Know About Ram Nath Kovind From His Rajya Sabha Interventions

Thoughts on caste discrimination and minorities

In the BJP, Kovind remained in the background but he held some important positions including the chief of the Scheduled Caste Morcha from 1998 to 2002 and the national spokesperson of the party in 2010.

A report prepared by US embassy interlocutors, published by Wikileaks in 2011, provide some insight into Kovind's thoughts on caste discrimination when he headed the BJP's Dalit Morcha. Kovind, according to the report, said that "open" discrimination against Dalits had decreased dramatically over the last decade, but it would exist for the next 50-100 years. He also said that since caste was condoned by religion, it would take longer to beat than racial discrimination in the US.

Kovind also said that the true basis of discrimination is economic in nature rather than caste-based, as the "haves discriminate against the have nots" and use the caste system to perpetuate differences between economic groups.

As a non-Jatav Dalit, the party once regarded him as a candidate to challenge Mayawati's caste politics, but the Brahmin lobby in the state didn't let him get very far. He campaigned in Dalit areas in the 2012 Assembly election in UP. In 2014, Kovind was once again called upon to mobilize the Dalit vote during the general election. It was at this time that BJP President Amit Shah reportedly noticed his dedication and discipline. In 2015, Modi chose him to be the Governor of Bihar.

The news came as a surprise to the Bihar CM who was not consulted over the appointment and heard about it in the media. But the two men developed a healthy working relationship over the past two years. Kumar even broke rank with the Opposition and came out strongly in favor of the BJP's presidential nominee. "Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Kumar said, last month.

The only time that Kovind came into the national spotlight during his governorship in Bihar was when he interrupted RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's son Tej Pratap during the latter's swearing in ceremony. "It's apekshit (expected), not upekshit (neglected)," he told the young lawmaker.

Kovind has rarely spoken to the media in the past several years. After the BJP announced him to be its presidential nominee, however, the remarks that he made as the party spokesperson in 2010 were back in circulation.

At the time, Kovind had opposed reservation in government for backward sections of religious minorities in India, and described Islam and Christianity as "alien to the nation." Making his case against quotas for Muslims and Christians in 2010, Kovind had argued that Dalit Christians and Muslims get better education in convent schools.

"The educational level of Scheduled Caste children remains much lower than that of convert Dalits and Muslims. The children of converts will grab major share of reservation in government jobs. They would become eligible to contest elections on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. This would encourage conversion and fatally destroy the fabric of Indian society," he said.

READ: BJP's Presidential Candidate Once Said 'Islam And Christianity Are Alien To The Nation'

The RSS connection

Those who were critical of Kovind's nomination have argued that it was antithetical to have a person associated with the RSS take up the highest constitutional position in the country. Several RSS stalwarts have in the past expressed contempt for the Constitution, its principles and the national flag, calling instead for the Manusmriti to be followed. Former RSS chief M.S. Golwalkar even wrote, "Let the Constitution be re-examined and re-drafted, so as to establish [a] Unitary form of Government."

While Kovind is closely connected with top RSS leaders, according to reports, he is widely regarded to be a moderate.

His association with the RSS in part is on account of his work with partner organizations that provide healthcare to poor communities. One such group is the Divya Prem Sewa Mission in Haridwar, run by RSS pracharak Aashish Gautam to help lepers and their families. Kovind reportedly made a donation of ₹25 lakh to the mission in 2000 and since then he has sponsored the education of at least two or three children of leprosy patients, every year.

While many regard the role of the president of India as titular, without any real power, there are presidents such as the late APJ Abdul Kalam and Pranab Mukherjee who emerged as the conscience keepers of the country.

Over the past year, for instance, Mukherjee has repeatedly spoken out against the violence suffered by minorities, Dalits and African nationals. He has underlined the need for free speech and room to allow for dissenting opinions in universities. While speaking on nationalism, earlier this year, he said, "There should be no room in India for the intolerant Indian. India has been since ancient times a bastion of free thought, speech and expression."

Whether Kovind sticks up for free speech and the secular values enshrined in the Constitution remains to be seen. He certainly has some large shoes to fill.

Also on HuffPost India:

7 Great Moments Of Friendship Between Indian And Pakistani Cricketers

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Whenever India and Pakistan play cricket, it's much, much more than just a sporting bonanza. Emotions run high, TV sets are shattered, fireworks are on display and Twitter goes into an overdrive to accommodate a barrage of patriotic tweets from both nations.

In the current backdrop of diplomatic estrangement, an atmosphere of animosity has cloaked conversations about cricket in both nations. Abusive trolls have taken over the space formerly occupied by teasing banter and digs without malice.

However the best ambassadors of peace have been the cricketers themselves. Out on the field, they've shared laughs with their arch rivals, signed autographs for their children, helped each other up when they fell and defended them from Internet trolls.

Here, then, are some gestures of generosity exhibited by the women and men in blue and green.

1. That time Virat Kohli gifted his bat to Mohammad Amir.

CRICKET-WT20-2016-IND-PAK

2. And this is what Amir said when asked who his favourite batsman is. Awww.

3. That beautiful time Sehwag defended Sarfraz Ahmed's Hindi.

4. When Pakistani cricketer Kainat Imtiaz said Jhulan Goswami was her inspiration.

5. That time Indian cricketers bid a graceful adieu to Misbahand Younis.

Here's the story.

6. When Dhoni had a dad moment with Sarfaraz Ahmed's son. What a cutie (both).

7. When Yuvraj, Dhoni and Kohli posed with Pakistani cricketer Azhar Ali's kids.

Humanity before rivalry, any day.

TN Farmers Beat Themselves With 'Chappals' To Protest MLAs' 'Shameless' Salary Hikes

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NEW DELHI -- In another novel protest, Tamil Nadu farmers rallying in New Delhi to demand loan waiver and drought relief package on Thursday beat themselves with flip-flops to protest the almost two-fold salary hikes state legislators have given themselves.

About 80 farmers shouted slogans against the state lawmakers, calling the salary move "shameless" and describing their own condition as "worse than beggars".

"Farmers do not have food to eat or money to survive due to prolonged drought in our state. Instead of taking steps to provide them relief, our MLAs chose to increase their own salaries. We have been left speechless by their shameless action. We condemn it in very strong words," farmer leader P. Ayyakannu told IANS.

The President of the National-South Indian Rivers Linking Farmers Association said the farmers were agitated by the "shameless" decision of the Tamil Nadu legislators to hike their own salaries.

The legislators on Wednesday approved a hike in their salaries from ₹55,000 to ₹1.05 lakh per month, apart from an increase in MLA Development Fund from ₹2 crore to ₹2.5 crore.

Nearly 100 farmers from the agrarian crisis-hit state, who had suspended their 41-day long protest following government assurance in April, turned up again at the Jantar Mantar on Sunday to press for their demands.

They want ₹40,000-crore drought relief package, complete loan waiver, compensation for agriculture produce, crop insurance to individual farmers, and linking of rivers to address the water crisis in Tamil Nadu.

Three months ago, these farmers had grabbed nationwide attention by holding protests while donning garlands of human skulls which they claimed were of dead farmers, holding mock funerals, shaving their heads, holding snakes and mice in their mouths, stripping outside the Prime Minister's Office and threatening to drink their own urine.

Also on HuffPost India:

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