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Why India Needs A Law To Enable Breastfeeding In Public

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The other day at a crowded mall in Mumbai, I heard a child crying incessantly; the mother looked flustered and tried distracting the child but to no avail. I asked if I could assist, and received an embarrassed reply—the child was hungry, and needed to be breastfed. My initial emotional reaction was annoyance, until I realised something: there was no designated place for mothers to breastfeed.

Switch locations mentally: the same scene plays out at bus stops, railway stations, parks and other public places and the same issue raises its head.

The breast is viewed as a sexual organ, inviting harassment if exposed in public, never mind that it's for feeding an infant.

Should this be an issue? After all, we are a country that has the worlds' youngest population. Nearly two-thirds of our 1.2 billion plus population is below the age of 35, including women of prime childbearing age; this number is only growing. Doctors and child health experts will tell you—and most mothers know this anyway—that breastfeeding is the best form of nutrition for a child until it attains the age of one year. Yet our society is not set up to enable this natural act of feeding.

We are faced with a cultural conundrum—in modern India, women are expected to be modestly dressed, which largely means covering up most of the body. Baring a breast, even if to feed a baby, is viewed as a brazen act. We are also a culture that blames its victims: women are held responsible for all the atrocities committed against them, regardless of how they are dressed.

So it's unimaginable for a mother to breastfeed her child in public, unlike in countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, the Philippines, Taiwan and the UK (to name a few).

While here we are discussing the infrastructural challenges and social stigma attached to breastfeeding in public spaces, Australian senator, Larissa Waters, broke many a taboo by proudly feeding her 11-week-old daughter while moving a motion in Parliament. It was indeed a poignant moment in history when a woman actively took a stand to reinforce her right to work even while tending to her infant. As she rightly said, "Women are going to continue to have babies and if they want to do their job and be at work and look after their baby ... the reality is we are going to have to accommodate that."

In a country that will soon be home to the world's youngest population, protecting nursing rights for mothers will be critical for the health of the nation.

It is not so much about a woman reinforcing her rights though. The core problem is that of a mindset—one of repulsion and hostility associated with breastfeeding in public places.

The breast is viewed as a sexual organ, inviting harassment if exposed in public, never mind that it's for feeding an infant. Mothers must do this only at home, or must pump the milk and carry it while traveling, or wait till the child is weaned off breast milk to resume normal lives.

This is India, where breastfeeding becomes even more important when most people cannot afford formula milk. Besides, many mothers take their children to places of work and infants must be fed regularly.

What we really need is legislation enabling breastfeeding in public, in little shelters that are hygienic for nursing babies, providing privacy and safety from harassment, set up and maintained by the state, or via private giving/philanthropy. This idea may seem foolish and be mocked, perhaps even ignored. But unless we promote this actively, we cannot bring about change.

In a country which will soon be home to the world's youngest population, protecting nursing rights for mothers will be critical for the health of the nation. While we gear up to be the world's fastest-growing economy, investing in smart cities and cattle protection, can we also please focus on creating infrastructure for mothers? Let's make this about us, let's do this for Mother India.


How To Host A Successful Party With Minimal Effort (Because Who Has The Time?)

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By Devika Pathak

Most of us don't dream of being the hostess with the mostest. Most of us are OK with having a few bottles of wine on hand and a couple of great cooking tips up our sleeves. Most of us have worked hard to manage even that much when it comes to hosting a party at home.

But sometimes... sometimes that wine and those go-to recipes feel a little stale. Sometimes, we want to mix it up.

The last thing you want while hosting a party is to spend the night in the kitchen while the guests uncomfortably ask if they can help you with anything.

And sometimes it's as easy as lighting a few candles. Don't believe us? Believe these expert entertainers who shared their quickest and easiest tips on how to be a good host.

Think thematically

"Honestly my mantra is always about keeping it simple," Says Gauri Devidayal, co-owner, The Table, Mumbai. "Surprisingly, I'm really not as vested in entertaining as one might think and often outsource components that I know other people can do better than me."

Devidayal says the best hosts play to their strengths, and an easy way to figure out where you can shine is by thinking thematically. Forget your tried-and-true table settings.

"If I'm serving an Indian meal, I'll always pull out my silver thalis and cutlery to make that experience feel more authentic and a little bit different that the usual," she says. "You'll see lots of block-printed linens and bouquets of Indian flowers. If I'm doing Western cuisine, then I may focus on more contemporary crockery with lots of lilies."

Be flexible

"I am all about flexibility when it comes to entertaining," says AD Singh, partner in some of India's most unique and exciting culinary ventures (including Olive, Fatty Bao, Guppy by Ai, SodaBottleOpenerWala and Monkey Bar). "If you are set on having a sit-down dinner, but have invited a couple who are notorious for being late, then accept the fact that you may have to start without them. Getting stuck on details will leave you stressed, and in turn, make your guests anxious as well."

As much as I love a good meal, I feel like cocktails are key when it comes to elevating the mood. AD Singh

Singh says suggests giving people options when it comes to the food and drinks—for example, having some seated spaces along with standing space. This could be by the bar or through the use of slim bar tables scattered around.

"My main tip when it comes to entertaining is to have fun. The moment guests see that the host is stressed, you're in for a flop of a night." Try to prep as much as you can in advance (lots of dishes can be made the night before, especially desserts) and use tried and tested recipes where you know exactly how long you need to cook or heat each dish. The last thing you want while hosting a party is to spend the night in the kitchen while the guests uncomfortably ask if they can help you with anything.

Liquor up—but don't forget the non-drinkers

"As much as I love a good meal, I feel like cocktails are key when it comes to elevating the mood," Singh says. "If you can invest in hiring a bartender who knows how to whip up a few classic cocktails, you are sure to have people chatting about their drinks and being a little bit more experimental as opposed to when they are offered straight pours."

I almost never use overhead lights and will switch on all my lamps and light tons of candles to impart a more romantic atmosphere. Aditi Dugar

But non-drinkers deserve as much thought, too. Singh says to be sure to have more options on hand than just water or soda for guests who don't drink; there's a reason mocktails are a thing. And finally, if you're not sure whether your guests drink alcohol or abstain—just ask.

"It's always best to ask your guests about any allergies or preferences when you're inviting them," he says.

Freelance as a florist

Aditi Dugar, owner of Masque Mumbai and the woman behind Sage & Saffron catering, believes the simplest décor is the most interesting. She suggests taking three to four glasses of different shapes and sizes and using them as vases for flowers in a variety of colours.

"I actually did this recently at Masque and I truly believe it's the quickest and easiest decorating tip," Dugar says. "This deceptively simple trick actually looks really beautiful as a centrepiece or table décor."

You can supplement with mundane objects like pebbles, candles and twigs if you want something a bit more unusual but still cheap and easy, she says.

Light it down

"I almost never use overhead lights and will switch on all my lamps and light tons of candles to impart a more romantic atmosphere," Dugar says. "The benefit here is also that you can direct attention where you want it, most often the dinner table. By keeping this area the brightest you are highlighting your food and also helping people appreciate what they are eating."

Go forth and party!

From Kulchas to Chaamps To Aam Papad: Eating My Way Through Amritsar

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Punjabi food, like its culture, is very hard to ignore especially in Amritsar, the golden heart of the land of butter and celebration. The flavours are just like its people, loud and in your face but in a very good way. We went on a food adventure spanning over three days in the land of the gurus and stuffed our faces with the most beautiful, delicious and rich dishes we could find on the streets of Amritsar. Read about day 1 here.

Day 2

On the second day of our food expedition, we woke up to the aroma of deep fried imarti. It was the day of Baisakhi, which marks the start of the Sikh New Year along with the formation of the Khalsa Panth. And sweets are a hallmark of the celebration.

Pooris for breakfast

Breakfast meant sampling wares from two Amritsar mainstays, starting with Kanhaiya Lal on Lawrence Road, where we sampled a fried poori made of maida and atta (in a 70:30 proportion) stuffed with a little dal pitthi. The poori is served with sweet and tangy aloo lounji, chane ki sabzi, another savoury aloo sabzi and carrot pickles. I also tried another interesting dish called satpura—a puffed pastry (with seven layers) filled with dal ki pitthi, and served with lounji and chane. Incidentally, a similar dish called the Japani samosa is available in Old Delhi's Manohar Dhaba. The difference is that this "samosa" is filled with mashed potatoes and served with chane and lauki achaar.

Amritsar changed my conception of the 'nutri kulcha' and showed me what the Delhi version was missing.

We then moved on to Kanha Sweets that serves pooris that are quite similar to Kanhaiya Lal's—the only thing missing is the savoury aloo sabzi. Kanha Sweets also sell aam pickle, stuffed matthi and besan matthi (this last is a boon for those with a gluten allergy).

A note on aam papad

Among the most enticing of all the places I visited was Lubhaya Ram, famous for aam papad. They have two outlets—the first one is a proper shop with jars and packed boxes of aam papad and the other one is a cart, right next to the DAV girls' college.

The owner of the shop, a big-time foodie has all the information on the best eating joints in Amritsar. The way he makes the aam papad platter is a sight to see—small pieces of all the different varieties of aam papad and anar goli are placed on a plate and then given a squeeze of lemon. Next comes a sprinkling of a 12-spice mix, white salt and black salt. The taste is simply out of the world—sweet and tangy at the same time. You can see why Amritsar needs this tasty digestive bit in a corner after you have sampled the heavy deliciousness of Kanhaiya Lal.

The breadbasket of India

Amritsar is sometimes called the Breadbasket of India. I tried kulcha at three places in the city—Ashok Kulche Wala at Ranjit Avenue, All India Famous Kulcha Wala at Chungi, and Kulwant Kulcha Wala near Golden Temple.

But first let me explain how an Amritsari kulcha is unique.

The first rule is that each layer of the dough is spread with ghee. The second is that the kulcha is always stuffed with spices ranging from pomegranate seeds to raw coriander seeds. The layered dough is filled with a mixture of aloo or paneer, or anything else and then put in the tandoor, where it gets crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. A generous helping of butter is applied over the kulchas, which are devoured with chana, spring onion and amchur chutney. The chutney is a mix of tamarind, green mangoes, spring onion and spices. Out of the three kulcha places.

The uniqueness of the chicken at Beera is in the softness rather than the crispiness that's sought after elsewhere in north India.

I found Ashok's to be the best kulcha in terms of authenticity and taste.

At Ashok, for the mix kulcha, mashed potatoes are combined with cauliflower mix, paneer mix, coriander seeds, fenugreek leaves, black pepper and other spices. Then are added yogurt, ghee, red chilies and salt. This combination is stuffed in the kulcha, which is placed in the oven to cook. Once it emerges, it is slathered with butter and is ready to be savoured.

At All India Famous Kulcha, the pre-made mixture is simply stuffed in the dough and cooked in the tandoor. While all India and Kulwant served crisper kulchas, Ashok's spices elevated the dish. Ashok has been in business for 36 years. The shop is open from 9 am to 2:30 pm.

Next on our agenda was the bija kulcha (the word bija in Punjabi means wet). Iqbal our food guide in the city took us to a place called Pappi di Hatti. The yeast kulchas (bo kulchas) are dipped in chickpeas topped with chopped onion, juliennes of ginger, green chutney, and amla pickles. The kulcha soaks the gravy of chickpeas and becomes soft and flavourful. The wooden containers in which the chickpeas are kept are 15 years old.

Being a Delhiite, I have tasted cuisines from all over India in this multicultural city. Thus, I'd already sampled a "nutri kulcha" at Shalimar Bagh in Delhi when I decided to see how Amritsar's version compared. Amritsar changed my conception of the dish and showed me what the Delhi version was missing. In Delhi, it was a normal kulcha with butter and soya granules mixed with spices. Here in Amritsar, the nutri was tawa-fried with capsicum and onions in spinach gravy. A fried piece of paneer was crushed over the nutri and the entire concoction was served with butter. It tasted heavenly. I had nutri also with bhaturas, a unique and delish combination.

Desi hot dog

Having tried the famed chaat in Varanasi, Lucknow and Delhi, I was not that excited to try the chaat in Amritsar. However, Brijwasi is everyone's favourite go-to go chaat place. The family that migrated from Mathura still serves chaat and other dishes without onion and garlic. They have an interesting desi-style hot dog—the footlong bun is fried in vanaspati and then smeared with methi chutney or saunth on one side and green chutney on the other. A single piece of crushed tikki makes the filling. Interestingly at Brijwasi, they don't add sweet or green chutney on the papri or bhalle unless expressly asked to do so.

Soul food

Since I was there on the day of Baisakhi, the harvest festival of Punjab, even the long queues at the gates of the Golden Temple couldn't deter me from seeking the blessings for an auspicious year.

The roti-making machine is said to make 6000-9000 rotis in an hour. Men and women put ghee over the rotis to keep them soft.

Another big draw is the langar, an important part of Sikh tradition, where anyone can walk in and eat the simple and soulful food. It is a community kitchen where the followers sit in a row and are fed by volunteers who come in to do "seva". As you enter, on the left hand side is the roti-making machine which they say makes 6000-9000 rotis in an hour. Men and women put ghee over the rotis to keep them soft. On the right hand side is the dishwashing unit—volunteers washing the soiled plates and spoons. At the rear is the main cooking area, where the food is cooked. I have never seen such a big cauldron in my life. There is no chef—the food is cooked by volunteers and sewadars. And what comes out is delicious dal that one can taste nowhere else. On special occasions, kheer and halwa is made for the followers. This institution is responsible for feeding hundred of homeless people in the city.

Chaamps and chicken

Now, one of the food explorers in our group was a vegetarian. So, before moving to the popular Beera Chicken, we stopped at Hathi Gate at Lovely Chaamp. The chaamps, made up of maida and soya are given different shapes, marinated in different spices and then grilled over charcoal. The spices are similar to those that are used in meat preparation. The most interesting out of all the soya champs was the completely veg fish champ—a fish-shaped patty made of soya and spices that are used in making Amritsari champ. (In Delhi, we have our own versions for vegetarians—deep-fried kurkure champs and Afghani ones with white creamy sauce). I loved the way creativity is inculcated in food. The Amritsari folks do not compromise on the taste and meaty texture even in vegetarian food.

Next up was Beera Chicken on Majeetha Road, where several customers ordered their food from inside their car and ate there too—Delhi-style! The shop has a sitting section too, though. Balbir, the owner, manages the restaurant, while his son takes care of the grill counter.

The chicken is first marinated in secret spices, half cooked and finally grilled straight over a griddle. One can also ask for tandoori chicken—the same chicken is cooked in a clay tandoor.

The uniqueness of the chicken is in the softness rather than the crispiness that's sought after elsewhere in north India. It tasted heavenly. The other recommended dish at Beera is keema naan. Minced mutton is stuffed in the dough and cooked inside the tandoor. Loads of delicious butter is spread over it. While I am usually a little more careful about my butter consumption, in Punjab you gotta do as the Punjabis do. The naan is served with chutney, onions and a mutton curry that is so delicious that I slurped it straight from the bowl.

We ended our second day with Prakash which was a big disappointment. I tried magaj (brain curry), chaamp and mutton tikka. Apart from the champ (minced meat deep-fried in ghee) the other two dishes were nothing to write home about. When we visited the shop construction for a bar section was in full swing. Maybe it was just a bad day for them or maybe they have moved away from their roots—who knows?

Unable to eat a morsel more, we ended the night with digestive tablets, hoping for a grand day three to end our food expedition on a high note.

CONFIRMED: A 'Wonder Woman' Sequel Is On Its Way

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The world obviously needs more “Wonder Woman.”

Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed that a sequel to this summer’s critically-acclaimed hit starring Gal Gadot is in the works during a panel at Comic Con in San Diego on Saturday.

The follow-up film’s apparent title? “Wonder Woman II.”

The news came as no surprise ― “Wonder Woman” is the highest-grossing film in the DC Extended Universe, earning a whopping $670.68 million worldwide ― but that didn’t make Diana Prince fans any less excited.

News of the sequel was revealed while Gadot, along with her “Justice League” co-stars were promoting their upcoming superhero team.

DC’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns is reportedly working on the sequel with director Patty Jenkins, who broke the record for highest-grossing live-action film after directing DC’s first “Wonder Woman,” according to Yahoo Movies.

Johns told Yahoo on Friday that he had just started working on the ‘Wonder Woman II’ script.

No official date has been released for the sequel, so those looking for their fix of the Amazonian princess will have to settle for the “Justice League” trailer, which, by the way, includes a generous amount of screen time with Diana of Themyscira taking out a gang of assassins. 

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Meet The 11 Indian Cricketers Playing The Women's World Cup Final 2017 Against England

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India's Rajeshwari Gayakwad (C) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of England's Lauren Winfield during the ICC Women's World Cup cricket final between England and India at Lord's cricket ground in London on July 23, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Adrian DENNIS

As the Indian women's cricket team battles it out with their Australian counterparts in the World Cup finals on Sunday, the eleven women representing India are already champions. Their stories are of extraordinary determination and continued will to fight against odds. They have broken financial, social, and patriarchal barriers to represent the country.

Smriti Mandhana

Twenty-one-year-old Smriti Mandhana grew up watching her father and brother play cricket at the district level. At age nine, she made it to the Maharashtra under-15 team, and two years later she was playing for the under-19 team. At 17, she became the first Indian woman to score a double hundred in an ODI game, when she made 224 in a match between Maharashtra and Gujarat state teams.

Australia v India - Game 2

She signed a one-year deal with Brisbane Heat for the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), becoming one of the first two Indians to sign for the league. The young cricketer had an injury earlier this year which made her participation in the World Cup doubtful, but she later recovered to return as opener for the Indian team.

Punam Raut

The 27-year-old from Mumbai is the daughter of a cab driver, who borrowed money to send his daughter to cricket coaching. Raut was only six years old when her obsession with cricket began. Now she's an opener for the Indian national team, and works for the Western Railways in Mumbai.

She made history alongwith teammate Deepti Sharma earlier this year when they made a 320-run partnership in an ODI match against Ireland.

Mithali Raj

Mithali Dorai Raj was 16 years old when she made her One Day International debut in 1999. The young cricketer would go on to score 114 runs not out against Ireland, making her the youngest to score an ODI century, and leading her team to an easy victory. Two years later, she beat the then-world record of highest score in women's Test cricket when she made 214 against England. Only one person has beaten that score since then—Pakistan's Kiran Baluch who scored 242 against West Indies in March 2004.

Raj started learning cricket when she was 10 years old, thanks to her father who worried that she was too lazy. She and her elder brother studied and were coached in St Johns school in Hyderabad. She would also practise with male cricketers in the nets. Raj also learnt an Indian classical dance—Bharatnatyam—for eight years before giving it up for a fulltime career in cricket.

INDIA-POLITICS-AWARD

Since her debut, the 34-year-old's ascent in the cricketing world has been swift, and she's frequently called the "Tendulkar of women's cricket". In 2003, she was given the Arjuna award, and the next year she became the youngest captain of the Indian cricket team at 21. She led the Indian team to their first World Cup final in 2005, though they lost to Australia that year. The next year, she led the team to an extraordinary series of uninterrupted victories to win the Asia Cup for the second time.

While the right-hand batsman is known for her ability to rack up the runs on the scoreboard, her style of rolling her arm over bowling leg-spinners provides variety in India's attack. In 2015, she was awarded the Padma Shri.

Harmanpreet Kaur

The 28-year-old all-rounder is a fierce batsman and a formidable bowler. Just like her idol Virender Sehwag, Kaur likes hitting the ball for sixes and fours often. She can do it all—rack up quick runs, keep batsmen in a tight leash while bowling right-arm medium-fast, and haul plenty of wickets that decimate the opposite team.

She's one of the first two Indian cricketers to have signed a Big Bash League contract with Sydney Thunder in Australia, where she hit three sixes and two fours in her debut game. She is also the first Indian to sign with Surrey Stars in ECB's Kia Super League.

CRICKET-WWC-ENG-IND/FINAL

Since her debut in 2009, Kaur has emerged as an important asset to the team. In 2012, when both Raj and Goswami were unable to play because of injuries, Kaur was the one who was entrusted to lead the team to victory in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan. When she led the ODI team during an India-Bangladesh series she scored 195 runs in two games and took a couple of wickets as well. Kaur's form in Test cricket is as impressive—in 2015 she took nine wickets during a test match with the South African team.

Kaur's do-it-all skills have come in handy at crucial moments—like last year when helped India win the first series win against Australia by leading the team's highest-ever run chase in T20 cricket, and earlier this year when she hit a six in the final two balls to secure the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifier title.

Deepti Sharma

She is just 19 years old but is already being dubbed the team's "all-round prodigy". Sharma, who plays left-hand bat and bowls right-arm offbreak, is a dream mix of boundless talent and single-minded focus.

She was nine years old when she begged her older brother to take her to cricket practice. What followed next could be straight out of a movie--while waiting at the girls' practice area at the Ekalavya Sports Stadium in their hometown in Agra, a ball came rolling towards her. She reportedly threw it casually at the stumps, hitting them.

Australia v India: Semi-Final - ICC Women's World Cup 2017

Former cricketer Hemlata Kala, the current chairperson of the BCCI women's selection panel, and who had also trained Poonam Yadav, noticed. She asked Sharma's brother to bring her to practice regularly, and reportedly predicted that Sharma would represent India one day.

Since Sharma's debut in the national team, she has regularly taken multiple wickets and scored crucial runs, easily becoming a young asset to the team.

Veda Krishnamurthy

The year was 2005, and the Indian women's cricket team had reached the final for the first time in the three decades they had played international cricket. Krishnamurthy, at the time just 12 years old and a double black belt in karate, was inspired. Even though the team, led by Raj, went on to lose the final to Australia, it inspired this young girl in Karnataka to become a cricketer.

Australia v India - Women's T20: Game 2

Krishnamurthy lived in Kadur, a small town with no cricketing facilities, and badly wanted to enroll in the academy in Bengaluru. Her secret hope was also to meet Raj there, who she idolised.

By age 15, the right-hand batsman was practicing in the nets with Raj, and made her ODI debut in 2011. The 24-year-old is a middle-order batsman in the Indian team and has helped her team seal wins consistently since then.

Sushma Verma

The 24-year-old has been India's "first-choice wicketkeeper" since her debut in 2014. Verma, who used to be the captain of the Indian under-19 team, is the first cricketer from Himachal Pradesh to represent the country internationally.

She used to play hockey, volleyball, and handball, before she turned all her focus to cricket. Her safe hands have often saved the game for her team.

Jhulan Goswami

It's been 15 years since this powerhouse player from West Bengal burst into the national stage. Towering over other players at five feet eleven inches, the 34-year-old is a hero to her younger teammates.

The fast bowler is known to take quick wickets, and earlier this year became the highest wicket-taker in the history of women's ODI cricket.

Australia v India - Women's T20: Game 3

Goswami is known to take young players under her wing, mentoring them and freely sharing her bowling secrets. In 2007. She was named ICC Women's Player of Year, and later promoted to captain of the Indian team. She has been given both the Arjuna award and Padma Shri.

While she is primarily a bowler, she has come through as a fierce and dependable batter in multiple occasions, lending support at crucial points for the team.

Shikha Pandey

Shikha Pandey was an engineer before she started playing cricket seriously. Growing up in Goa, Pandey played cricket with boys in her colony and dreamt of flying one day. But in her second year of engineering college, she started playing at the Goa Cricket Association, and by the end of her degree she had decided to dive completely into the world of cricket.

Becoming a cricketer didn't mean Pandey was going to give up on her plan of joining the Indian Air Force. As a result, the 28-year-old now straddles two careers--one as a fast bowler for the Indian cricket team, and another as an air traffic controller for the IAF.

CRICKET-WORLD-ENG-IND-WOMEN

Pandey's family is from Uttar Pradesh, and she was born in Andhra Pradesh and grew up in Goa, as the family moved a lot as her father was frequently transferred in his government job.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Rajeshwari Shivanand Gayakwad is a 26-year-old cricketer in the national team but it was not her first-choice sport. The district-level javelin thrower played discus-throw and basketball and "did not even know that girls played cricket seriously".

However, a chance brush with the game—she decided to "try it out" at an academy—made her change her fall in love with cricket. Since her international debut in 2014, the left arm spinner from Karnataka has fast become one of the team's star wicket-takers, known for her multi-wicket hauls that have led the team to victory more than once.

Poonam Yadav

The 25-year-old leg spinner is a pocket dynamite. Just under five feet tall, the athlete from Agra can scare the toughest batsman on crease with her trademark legbreak googly.

West Indies v India - ICC Women's World Cup 2017

The youngest daughter of an employee of the Indian Army's education board, Yadav would frequently get hurt while playing sports. Her father, concerned over her bruises, reportedly tried to stop her from playing cricket. But an old cricketing legend, Hemlata Kala, who was training Yadav, reportedly convinced him to not worry.

Yadav is known to decimate the opposition's batting order, and this World Cup has been no exception.

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England Beat India By 9 Runs To Win Women's Cricket World Cup 2017

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Cricket - Women's Cricket World Cup Final - England vs India - London, Britain - July 23, 2017   England's Anya Shrubsole celebrates with team mates after bowling out India's Jhulan Goswami   Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

England beat India in the ICC Women's World Cup final by 9 runs on Sunday. It was a nail-biting end to a tournament which saw many new records being made.

England won the toss and chose to bat first, scoring 228 runs. The Indian team started off well, but collapsed like a pack of cards in the crucial last few overs, to finally being bowled out for 219 in 48.4 overs.

ALSO READ: Meet The 11 Indian Cricketers Playing The Women's World Cup Final 2017 Against England

It was a heartbreaking end to the tournament for the Indian team which has performed spectacularly so far, beating England in an early match earlier in the World Cup.

Opener Punam Raut played a brilliant innings, scoring 86 runs in 115 balls. Harmanpreet Kaur's half century came in good time, hitting a couple of sixes in her trademark style. At 191 for 3 wickets, India's chances looked bright.

However, it was the loss of seven wickets in just 6.5 overs that swung the game in England's favour. England's vice captain Anya Shrubsole took six wickets, including taking Raut for an lbw. Shrubsole also helped running out Shikha Pandey during the key last few overs.

Despite their loss in the final match, wishes poured in for the women in blue.

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Trump Team Claims Pardons Aren't A Topic At The White House

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New White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow attempted some damage control Sunday following the president’s claim about his power to pardon, saying the issue is not under discussion.

Trump on Saturday asserted he has “complete” power to pardon, following a Washington Post report that he had asked his advisers about his ability to do so for his aides, his family and himself as the Justice Department’s probe continues into whether his campaign colluded with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election. 

Scaramucci, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said that the pardons issue isn’t under consideration by Trump. 

“The president’s thinking about pardoning nobody,” he said. “It has been coming up a lot, there’s an undercurrent of nonsensical stuff. ... The truth of the matter is the president’s not going to have to pardon anybody because the Russian thing is a nonsensical thing.” 

Sekulow, during an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” also said pardons are not “on the table,” adding there’s “nothing to pardon from.”

“We have not and I continue to not have conversations with the president of the United States about pardons,” he said.

“Clearly, the Constitution does vest a plenary pardon power within the presidency. Whether it would apply to the president himself, I think ultimately would be a matter for a court to decide,” Sekulow continued. “As I said, that’s not something that we’re looking at. ... We’re not researching it, I haven’t researched it, because it’s not an issue we’re concerned with or dealing with.” 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), meanwhile, told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the president “in all likelihood” can pardon himself.

It’s unclear whether the president does have the power to pardon himself, as the Constitution isn’t explicit on that specific situation and there’s no legal precedent on the matter. Some legal experts believe it would be a conflict of interest for a president to pardon himself, while others say the power is expansive enough to include the chief executive. 

Read The Full Text Of President Pranab Mukherjee's Farewell Speech

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File photo of Pranab Mukherjee, President of India.

Two days before he demits office, President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday went down memory lane as he delivered his farewell speech here, recalling his first day as member of Parliament as well as his past associations.

"With a sense of gratitude and a prayer in my heart, I take leave of you. I leave with a sense of fulfilment and happiness of having served the people of this great country through this institution -- as their humble servant," he said in his address to members of both the houses at the Central Hall of Parliament.

"As I retire from the office of the President of the republic, my association with Parliament also comes to an end. I will no longer be a part of Parliament of India. It will be with a tinge of sadness and a rainbow of memories that I will be leaving this magnificent building today," he added.

Reminiscing about his association with Parliament, he said: "When I first entered the portals of this hallowed institution 48 years ago, I was 34 years old.

"In July 1969, I came to Parliament as member of the Rajya Sabha, representing one of the six seats from West Bengal. My election to the Rajya Sabha took place on July 4 and the first session I attended was on July 22, 1969," said Mukherjee.

"Since then, for the last 37 years, I have served as a member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Of these, I served five terms as member of the Rajya Sabha -- four times elected from West Bengal and one time from Gujarat. And two terms in the Lok Sabha."

He said that his long innings in Parliament was both instructive and educative.

"I entered Parliament at a time when the Rajya Sabha was full of experienced parliamentarians, leaders of the freedom movement, many of whom were brilliant speakers -- M.C. Chagla, Ajit Prasad Jain, Jairamdas Daulatram, Bhupesh Gupta, Joachim Alva, Mahavir Tyagi, Raj Narain, Dr Bhai Mahavir, Loknath Mishra, Chitta Basu, and many others," he recalled the names of a few stalwarts.

"In fact, Bhupesh Gupta was truly a legend in the Rajya Sabha. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's son Dahyabhai Patel, and daughter Maniben Patel represented the Swatantra Party in Parliament," he added.

"P.V. Narasimha Rao, the oration of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, cryptic one-liners of Madhu Limaye and Dr. Nath Pai, wit and humour of Piloo Modi, poetic discourses of Hiren Mukherjee, razor-sharp repartee of Indrajit Gupta, calming presence of Dr. Manmohan Singh, mature advice of L.K. Advani, and passionate support of Sonia Gandhi on social legislations," Mukherjee reminisced.

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Eminent Space Scientist Udupi Ramachandra Rao Dies At 85

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BENGALURU -- Eminent space scientist and former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Udupi Ramachandra Rao passed away in Bengaluru in the wee hours on Monday due to age related ailments.

He was 85.

"Rao breathed his last during the early hours, around 3 AM today," ISRO Public Relations Director Deviprasad Karnik told PTI.

He was suffering from age related ailments and breathed his last at his residence in the city. Rao is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter, ISRO officials said.

Born in Adamaru area of Karnataka's Udupi district, Rao was involved in all ISRO missions till date in one capacity or the other. He is credited for contributions to the development of space technology in India and its extensive application to communications and remote sensing of natural resources.

He was currently serving as the chairman of the governing council of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad and the chancellor of the Indian Institute of science and technology in Thiruvananthapuram.

Rao served as the chairman of ISRO for 10 years from 1984-1994.

After taking charge as chairman of the space commission and secretary, department of space in 1984, he accelerated the development of rocket technology which led to the successful launch of ASLV rocket and the operational PSLV launch vehicle, which can launch 2.0 ton class of satellites into polar orbit, his profile on the space agency's website reads.

He also initiated the development of the Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and the development of cryogenic technology in 1991.

Rao was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1976 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2017 for his contribution to Indian space technology.

He has published over 350 scientific and technical papers covering cosmic rays, interplanetary physics, high energy astronomy, space applications, satellite and rocket technology and authored many books.

Rao also became the first Indian space scientist to be inducted into the prestigious 'Satellite Hall of Fame' in Washington DC on March 19, 2013, and the 'IAF Hall of Fame' in Mexico's Guadalajara.

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An Attractive Husband Can Be Damaging To Your Relationship

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Forget keeping up with the Joneses, for some women, it's more about keeping up with their husbands.

According to a study out of Florida State University, women who have attractive husbands are more likely to diet and exercise, regardless of what they themselves look like.

Multi-ethnic couple jogging in urban setting

"The results reveal that having a physically attractive husband may have negative consequences for wives, especially if those wives are not particularly attractive," the study's co-author Tania Reynolds, a doctoral student at Florida State University, said in a press release.

The study, which looked at 113 newlywed American couples, found women with very attractive partners were more likely to suffer from disordered eating.

For men, their spouse's attractiveness had little to no impact on their motivation to diet.

Young Couple Eating in a Bar

"The research suggests there might be social factors playing a role in women's disordered eating," Reynolds said. "It might be helpful to identify women at risk of developing more extreme weight-loss behaviours, which have been linked to other forms of psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse and dissatisfaction with life."

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Reynolds went on to point out that women tend to believe their partners want them to be thinner and, as a result, can go to extremes to attain a thinner body.

Dieting woman craving for cake

Assistant Professor of Psychology Andrea Meltzer, who co-authored the study, added that marriages tend to be more successful and satisfying when wives are more attractive than their husbands. Meltzer's argument is in support of a 2012 study, which found women tend to be happier when married to less attractive men.

But that doesn't mean relationships are doomed if the man is better looking than the woman. Reynolds recommends men support their partners by reaffirming their love and attraction to their spouse regardless of their weight or body type and by focusing on the qualities you adore about them outside of physical attractiveness.

Here's Why All Teens, LGBTQ And Not, Need To Learn About Anal Sex

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Teen Vogue’s recent publication of “A Guide to Anal Sex” has brought out the usual crop of right-wing, anti-LGBTQ religious conservatives who are stirring a backlash against the magazine. 

Radio host and Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, one of the most outlandish anti-queer bigots on the airwaves, zeroed in on the issue this week, bringing onto his show Elizabeth Johnston, otherwise known as “The Activist Mommy.”

Johnston is an Ohio-based conservative vlogger and mother of ten children who has gained notoriety and a huge following for her campaigns against LGBTQ people, in particular attacking Target’s gender neutral rest room policy last year. A video she posted to her Facebook page in 2016 was titled, “LGBTQQIAAPP?? Asexual? Non-binary? Gobbledygook! Gender insanity! This is out of hand! 😡 ” 

Johnston has predictably led the charge against Teen Vogue, with a video in which she burns copies of the magazine. She told Starnes: 

I was truly flabbergasted. They should not be teaching sodomy to our children...All of us are trying to do our best to protect our children from immorality and over-sexualization in our culture. And to see this disturbing article where sodomy is being normalized, not discouraged ― even the CDC says that sodomy is the riskiest sexual behavior for getting and transmitting HIV for men and women.

And therein lies the reason why it’s so vital to talk to all teenagers, straight and LGBTQ, about anal sex and how to engage in it safely. But just as importantly, they must be taught that it is normal, natural and healthy―yes, healthy―and that it is nothing about which to be ashamed nor to stigmatize others about. Telling young people, as Johnston does, that “sodomy” is “disturbing” and a part of the “immorality” in our culture, and should not be “normalized,” is encouraging bullying, violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Anal sex is, after all, a predominant form of intimacy between men who have sex with men and among many transgender women and men, and the message Johnston sends is that queer people are immoral. There is absolutely no getting around this, though Johnston told Starnes in response to Teen Vogue’s editorial director Phillip Picardi’s remarks describing the backlash as a reflection of homophobia: “We don’t hate anyone. We love the children of this country.”

If that is true, then Johnston should want to protect children ― all of them ― from stigmatization, as well as from STDs. Her claim about the risks of anal sex and HIV are precisely the reason why Teen Vogue should be teaching young people about safe sex of all kinds. Johnston and her ilk in fact use the risk of acquiring HIV as cover ― something they’ve been doing since the beginning of the epidemic ―  sending an implicit message that no one should engage in anal sex, ever, because of HIV.

But by that logic women should never engage in vaginal sex because of the risks of being infected with HPV ― which is far more easily transmittable than HIV, including within monogamous relationships by married heterosexual couples ― which can lead to cervical cancer. 

So, no, Johnston’s real fears are not about disease, otherwise she’d be talking about STD prevention and engaging in sex safely. Condemning anal sex, she calls for abstinence about sexual activity that straight and queer teens are engaging in ― and that just doesn’t work. People will still engage in it, often without the proper eduction about how to do it safely. She puts all young people at risk, while stigmatizing queer people.

John Paul Brammer wrote a piece about this controversy on NBC Out that everyone should read, as it also delves into the lack of sex education in our nation’s schools and how, when there is sex education of any kind, it often excludes any discussion of LGBTQ sexuality, sometimes by state law.

Brammer spoke with Dr. Michael Newcomb of Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, who discusses how young people, both hetero and LGBTQ, don’t believe they’re receiving proper sex education in schools, as well as how anal sex is an activity that many heterosexual young people engage in and thus need to learn about: 

We think of it as an LGBT issue, but research shows that, in part, anal sex is a power and cred[ibility] issue with heterosexual youth, where boys want to say they’ve done it with girls. Education about anal sex isn’t coming through schools, they’re not getting it.

Teen Vogue and all outlets, including Queer Voices, that have discussed anal sex ― as well as LGBTQ sexuality ― openly and honestly are providing a vital forum for young people to access information and open up a dialogue. That’s a far cry from what “The Activist Mommy” and her minions are doing, putting all young people at risk by promoting abstinence while encouraging bigotry against LGBTQ Americans. 

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11 Tips To Protect Yourself Against Online Romance Scams

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Hundreds of thousands of women and men worldwide fall victim to online romance scams every year. Reported losses in the U.S. alone top $230 million annually, although the FBI estimates that only 15 percent of such crimes are reported and the actual losses are much higher. Most of that money will never be recovered.

Here are 11 things you can do to avoid being scammed: 

1. Make sure you actually know the person before accepting a friend request on Facebook.

If the person claims you have mutual friends, verify that claim. Be wary of people who show only a handful of friends on their Facebook page and few personal photos. Maybe they’re just new to social media, but recognize that their profile is giving you very little evidence of their existence. 

2. Keep the conversation on the dating site.

Take it as a red flag when someone you’ve recently met on a dating site wants to leave the site’s chat feature in favor of another messaging platform. Scammers phish for victims anywhere they can. But for ease, they prefer to keep their communications all in one place. Scammers like to use apps such as WhatsApp, Kik or Viber.

3. Check their photos.

Use the free Google Image Search to see where else the photos have appeared. Click on the camera icon in the search box and then drag in or upload a picture. Google will show you where that image has been posted online. You can see if it was used by someone with a different name or if it has been reported to a scam list.

4. Investigate what they tell you about themselves.

Google them. Verify what they’ve told you. The absence of a digital footprint, in and of itself, is questionable these days. Check records: Marriages and divorces are recorded. Property ownership is public information. So are criminal records. There are several fee-based services, such as Spokeo, to help you search. Spending a little could save you a lot.

5. See if the text of their messages appears elsewhere.

Romance scammers literally read from scripts. (Scamwarners contains some popular ones.) If you’re worried you’re being scammed, try copying a message from your online friend and searching for it on Google. You may find the identical or very similar language in other links. That’s a major red flag.

6. Invite your new friend to video chat with you.

The fastest way to smoke out a scammer just may be to invite them to video chat on a platform like Skype, Facebook Messenger or FaceTime. Scammers don’t ever want to talk “live” while showing their faces. How can they when they don’t actually exist?

7. Verify where a photo was really taken.

If your suitor says he is from California but his photo was taken in a backyard in Ohio, it’s worth questioning. This site can give you a lot of information about an image, including when and where it was shot. (It doesn’t work if the relevant photo metadata was stripped away, as some social networks do.)

8. Beware of “soldiers” asking for money.

People in the armed forces can certainly have money troubles. But photos of military men are frequently stolen and used in scams. There are no circumstances ― ever ― in which a real member of the U.S. military needs to ask for money for service-related transportation, medical care or administrative fees.

9. Check where the emails come from.

Every computer, smartphone and tablet is assigned an IP address that shows you the country of assignation. Every email has a header that reveals the IP address of the device that sent it. You can learn how to find the header and analyze it here. To understand more about what you’re reading, go here. (And if you want to see if your own email has been hacked, go here.)

10. If you’ve been scammed, report it.

If you suspect you’re the victim of a romance scam, file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The bureau estimates that only 15 percent of victims come forward. Think of it like this: You could be helping some other person who’s being defrauded. The FBI also urges victims to contact their banks, credit card companies and/or credit bureaus to block access to accounts, freeze accounts, dispute charges or attempt to recover lost funds.

11. Don’t send money to online strangers.

Just don’t. Tell a friend or relative about the request.

RCEP Deal Could Spell Bad News For Public Health In India And Beyond

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By Leena Menghaney, Head—South Asia, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign.

Officials from the 16 countries negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal—which includes the ten ASEAN member states, plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea— are meeting this week for another round of negotiations.

Ironically, the venue is the city of Hyderabad, the hub of the Indian generic drug industry. It will host the intellectual property (IP) negotiations that seek to curb the ability of Indian manufacturers to deliver lifesaving medicines to the world. Médecins Sans Frontières and other actors depend on these medicines to provide critical care where it's most needed.

An online leaked draft text of this trade deal reveals that , if accepted, certain provisions will delay access to affordable medicines by restricting generic competition and maintaining monopoly pricing.

RCEP countries are home to nearly half of the global population, including some of the world's most impoverished and marginalised communities. Like the city of Hyderabad itself, they are also home to some of the world's largest producers of affordable medicines and vaccines used across Asia and around the world to provide affordable treatment to patients. Generic competition from India and the availability of affordable active pharmaceutical ingredients (API)—the raw materials needed to produce these drugs—from China have ushered in a treatment revolution in developing countries, bringing down, for example, the price of first-line HIV medicines by 99% since 2001.

Although media headlines tend to focus on the agreement as a "massive boost" to trade, what is overlooked is the critical impact the agreement poses to affordable treatment for billions of people.

Presently, the proposed provisions regarding expansion of intellectual property monopolies in RCEP are being pushed by Japan, which is home to some powerful pharmaceutical corporations that are in competition with generic manufacturers from India, China and other RCEP countries.

An online leaked draft text of this trade deal reveals that Japan and South Korea have proposed several provisions that go far beyond the current trade requirements of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and seek to extend the term of patent monopolies of pharmaceutical corporations and are demanding data exclusivity that limits competition—even for older medicines that do not deserve and may not have a patent monopoly. If accepted, such measures will delay access to affordable medicines by restricting generic competition and maintaining monopoly pricing, adding to the pressure of escalating treatment costs and leaving patients struggling to afford their lifesaving treatments for longer.

Over the last decade, whether RCEP or other trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the EU-India FTA negotiations, MSF has repeatedly called for wealthy countries to stop pushing and to withdraw these harmful provisions.

We call on RCEP countries to reject harmful IP provisions and ensure access to affordable treatment for people across the globe who depend on generic medicines from India and other RCEP countries.

We know too well from addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1990s, the disastrous consequences that unaffordable drug prices have for our patients in the developing world. Today many governments are facing the reality of unsustainably high prices for the treatment of hepatitis C, cancer and other diseases as their drugs are priced at thousands of dollars with the inclusion of exorbitantly priced patented medications.

Seeking more expansive IP monopolies in trade agreements not only undermines healthcare systems but also ignores the fact that the current model of pharmaceutical IP monopolies fails to deliver for emerging global public health challenges such as the urgent need for new antibiotics to combat antimicrobial resistance. At the same time, while Japan is pushing for these rules, it has also been at the forefront of these discussions on reform, both at the UN and through its own leadership in the G7. In fact, Japan has several proposals pending nationally to increase the share of generic medicines in the country's universal healthcare system to stem the rise in healthcare costs.

These are some of the reasons why the recent report by the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines recommends that governments engaged in bilateral and regional trade and investment treaties should ensure that these agreements do not include IP provisions that interfere with their obligations to fulfill the right to health.

As we mobilise with patient and health groups in Hyderabad, we call on RCEP countries to heed this advice, reject harmful IP provisions and ensure access to affordable treatment for billions of people across the globe who depend on generic medicines from India and other RCEP countries.

Why Doesn’t ‘Cow Protectionism’ Extend To Dairy Farms?

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The "inspiration" for prejudice and victimisation can come from many sources, including religion, culture, politics, and paradoxically, "animal rights". The latter of these, when fully realised, leads to language that considers any taxonomy of animals as "specie-ist". It does not recognise the suffering or killing of a cow as being any more worthy of our consideration than a chicken, fish or even a human. How is it, then, that in the name of gau raksha or cow protection, gangs are ready to take the law into their own hands? How is it that they abuse and kill those who consume beef or transport cows—legally or illegally (depending on the context)—rather than utilising the political system to call for proper implementation and strengthening of laws, so that their demands are met? After all, it is the present government which seems to, in part, signal support for the "cow protection" principles behind these attacks, while being critical of the attacks themselves.

Methods [of impregnating cows] include leaving the cow in an enclosed space with a mating bull, with no opportunity to escape. How do the milk-drinking cow lovers feel about these invasions foisted on their "mother cow?"

It is not automatic that belief in the sacredness of an animal will result in support for or actual violence. But in this instance, it is a toxic mix of religious fundamentalism, identity politics and the claim of animal rights which fuels this phenomenon. The question which remains unasked, however, is why the staunchest of cow lovers still wear leather, and those who do avoid leather, are still avid consumers of dairy. There is no cover-up, no collusion between biologists and the dairy industry, that cows must be pregnant to produce milk—often leading to artificial insemination of cows. India's National Dairy Plan aims to use artificial insemination on at least 35% of all fertile animals by the end of 2017 against their will. Other methods include leaving the cow in an enclosed space with a mating bull, with no opportunity to escape. How do the milk-drinking cow lovers feel about these invasions foisted on their "mother cow?" Post birth, male calves are usually sent to slaughter—the motherly status ascribed to the cow seems to be irrelevant if it kills her male babies, all in the name of making a glass of milk more affordable.

True love for the cow would mean letting it be free to mate as it pleases, letting its offspring drink its milk as and when it pleases.

It is then not a leap of faith to understand that this concern for cows is rooted in wilful ignorance and a false sense of outrage. It is simply an excuse to persecute minorities in the context of an increasingly anti-globalisation, identity-politics-driven world. True love for the cow would mean letting it be free to mate as it pleases, letting its offspring drink its milk as and when it pleases. Interference in this process excludes one from being a true devotee of the cow. But perhaps this devotion is a problem in the first place: if humans are superior, followed by the cow and then other animals, it is not difficult to understand how this taxonomy could remove some humans and re-categorise them with the group of animals less worthy to have their life protected, simply because they are not sacred (chickens, for example). If devotion for the cow was sincere, then it might take into consideration all the ways in which cows are tortured—not just when the torture (read: slaughter) is carried out by certain communities.

The view that only the cow is a sacred animal is a view which implies a devaluing of the life of a chicken or dog. Sentience and a central nervous system is a shared trait among these "devalued" and "sacred" animals—this is the only objective means through which to establish a taxonomy in considering our treatment of human and non-human animals. Recognising that humans share these traits—along with the trait of empathy—how can we then proceed to devalue any human or animal in the name of an imagined taxonomy of superiority and inferiority? It is now well established by respected international bodies such as the American Dietetic Association that one can obtain all adequate nutrition on a balanced, completely plant-based diet, even excluding dairy products. With this being the case, on what grounds can we justify this cycle of violence to human and non-human animals?

Decoding The Success Of India’s Luxury Market

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My quest for luxury began two decades ago, with an inheritance from my grandfather: his Omega Seamaster manual-wind mechanical wristwatch. I always held it very close to my heart, not because it was an Omega limited edition, but because it was my grandfather's last gift. I was fascinated with its movements and complications. Even today, I never forget to wind it, every day. But it is since then that I started exploring the world of fine craftsmanship and luxury.

Over the years, my quest has helped me explore the various facets of the dazzle—luxe. The rich history of craftsmanship, the heritage, the sheer finesse with which an exquisite hand-crafted piece is created—every bit of it is a treasure trove for a story teller.

To sell or not to sell to the masses? That has been the big question that all retailers of luxury brands face.

Unfortunately, the literature on luxury is very limited, globally, and writers have mostly focused on cataloguing luxury products and showcasing them. Moreover, there is not much written on the Indian luxury market, which is unique in its own right.

A sneak peek into the age-old love affair between branded luxury and our great nation of royalty will give a sense of this unique history of luxe. In the 1920s, 20% of Rolls Royce's global sales were from India. In 1926, the Maharaja of Patiala commissioned Cartier (in its largest commission till date), to remodel his crown jewels, which included the 234.69 carat De Beers diamond. The result was a breath-taking Patiala necklace weighing 962.25 carats with 2,930 diamonds. In 1928, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir placed orders for more than 30 custom-made trunks from luggage maker Louis Vuitton over a period of six months.

Cut to today, with the ebbing Chinese luxury story, most luxury goods providers are shifting focus to the growing luxury consumer base in India, which is poised to grow at 25% from 2013 till 2018, and is likely to touch the $18-billion mark from the level of $14 billion in 2015.

For many luxury brands India was the past and India is the future.

So I felt an urgent need to narrate a wonderful tale of luxe in India—capturing this wonderful dazzle in a holistic way, unveiling its various facets. The result was my book Decoding Luxe, which challenges popular misconceptions and exposes certain unconventional and counter-intuitive realities about the luxury market in India. Let me share a few.

The super-rich don't drive luxury, the Great Indian Middle Class (GIMC) does

Major luxury brands owe their existence to the GIMC. The secret behind the survival of high-end brands is the play in volumes. Shopping malls, in order to lure the middle-class towards luxury and to give them its taste, are mixing luxury, premium and super-premium in the same shopping mall. You can't afford to restrict luxury retailing for five stars and exclude this group as they are your lifeline. It is this aspiration that has led to the exponential rise of the market of knock-offs and first copies. To sell or not to sell to the masses? That has been the big question that all retailers of luxury brands face. Most of them have been struggling to strike a balance. The key lies in pricing.

What we see today is the democratisation of luxury, the rise and rise of "masstige"—a portmanteau of the words mass and prestige.

What we see today is the democratisation of luxury, the rise and rise of "masstige"—a portmanteau of the words mass and prestige. Essentially, "prestige for the masses".

All luxury brands need the GIMC to drive growth as that gives them the volumes which are the sustainability drivers. So the low-hanging products by luxury brands such as accessories become the stairway to elite aspiration for the masses.

Luxury escape rather than ostentation is the next billion-dollar industry

The desire for escape has always been a very dominant yet not-so-obvious reason behind the love for luxury. But it's only recently that brand custodians have been wising up to this fact. The promise of escape, if properly harnessed, is the next billion-dollar-churner for all luxury brands across the globe. They just need to recalibrate their positioning.

Instead of positioning a brand where the payoff comes from flaunting a logo, it needs to stand for transcendence from the mundane, a getaway from the ordinary. Consumers will pay top-dollar for that one hour a week, or that lazy private beach or yacht holiday, away from everyone, where the brand will be the lone companion to their luxury solitude. Luxury is the great escape and it can make brands millions.

E-commerce and the rapid growth in the luxury counterfeit market

According to a 2014 study by ASSOCHAM, the counterfeit luxury products market in India is growing at a rate of 40-45% annually. This has a lot to do with the advent of e-commerce platforms selling them at affordable prices. Web shopping portals account for over 25% of the fake luxury goods market in India. Globally, with a share of about 7%, fake luxury products account for over $22 billion of the $320 billion global luxury industry.

It is all about being special or exclusive, to be someone who is not ordinary. About being able to stand out in the crowd. This razzle-dazzle industry thrives on ego.

Luxury counterfeits are not a new phenomenon, but with technological advances and sophisticated new ways to reach consumers, the business is increasing rapidly. Historically, luxury counterfeits were often shipped in large cargo containers and passed through numerous middlemen before reaching the final consumers. Compared to the purchase of a fake handbag on the street, the purchase of a bag online makes it harder for a consumer to tell whether the product is genuine. An online advertisement by these portals for a Gucci bag could show a photo of a genuine Gucci bag, but the purchaser would actually receive a fake one. The counterfeit seller may create pseudo product reviews, blog entries and rogue social media profiles to enhance its legitimacy. Suggestible consumers may fall for this fake content.

Ego drives luxury brands

It is all about being special or exclusive, to be someone who is not ordinary. About being able to stand out in the crowd. This razzle-dazzle industry thrives on ego.

The idea that a marketeer sells is the exclusivity of the luxury brand and the exclusiveness of its owner. You will belong to an elite club such as a Lamborghini Club, flaunting your standing in society. The sheer arrogance that a brand exudes using prohibitive pricing to crowd out clients will make it aspirational. So the users will get an elevated feeling that he or she is part of an exclusive club. A brand such as Rolex is selling a legacy, a life of greatness, pandering to a masculine ego that craves distinction.

This three-letter word drives the luxury industry globally.


Listening To Gandhi In The Age Of Consumption In India

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Inside a Delhi mall, the frequent ringing of cash counters heralds the arrival of India's consuming class. The heady aroma of perfume from Shopper's Stop intersects with the smell of coffee drifting out of Starbucks. The exotic potpourri then wafts into the food court, where Delhi's middle class celebrate their immersion into the global marketplace by biting into a Subway BLT.

Gandhi worried about the ethical question of how things were produced more than where they were produced.

Op-eds from experts have poured in like ghee into a ceremonial fire of India's growth story. McKinsey Global Institute suggests that at current rates of growth, India will become the world's fifth-largest consumer economy by 2025. Some economists believe that the growth fuelled by consumption has helped to pull out 200 million people out of poverty in India. Globally, however, the "trickle-down" model of economic growth has proved to be snake oil. While India currently is on a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) joyride, the criterion itself has been criticised for being a "swindle"—a false indicator of "development". The current paradox of high GDP and low job generation is a case in point. Industrialised economies are increasingly getting sceptical of the model of endless growth, and proponents of degrowth—a movement that seeks to de-addict economies from growth—is finding a political constituency in Europe and the United Kingdom.

One of the earliest critics of industrialised growth was Mahatma Gandhi. In 1928 in Young India he wrote:

"God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the West. If an entire nation of 300 millions took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip of the world bare like locusts."

When it came to the pitfalls of pursuing a consumption-driven model of growth, Gandhi was remarkably prescient. In Hind Swaraj, Gandhi worried about the ethical question of how things were produced more than where they were produced. When the Swadeshi movement in Bengal called for a boycott of all British-made goods in 1905, Gandhi supported it wholeheartedly, but he wanted it to go one step up. It was not just about boycotting Manchester-made cloth, but any kind of cloth produced through exploitation.

"By using Manchester cloth, we would only waste our money, but, by reproducing Manchester in India, we shall keep our money at the price of our own blood, because our moral being will be sapped.......And those who have amassed wealth out of factories are not likely to be better than other rich men. It would be folly to assume that an Indian Rockefeller would be better than the American Rockefeller."

As calls for boycotting Chinese goods gains political traction in India, Gandhi's thoughts on the ethics of production should prompt us to look beyond populist politics.

As calls for boycotting Chinese goods gains political traction in India, Gandhi's thoughts on the ethics of production should prompt us to look beyond populist politics. In a country where mornings are considered incomplete without a cup of tea, little do consumers know about hunger deaths, malnutrition and exploitation of labour in India's tea plantations. The sugar that sweetens our tea comes from groundwater-depleting sugarcane. Our manufacturing sector is plagued with labour exploitation and low wages. Every year Indians spend US$450 million on fireworks to celebrate Diwali. Under the garb of a festive spirit, we not only choke our cities with pollution but also cover up the fact that 90% of fireworks in India are manufactured through child labour in an industrial town called Sivakasi in the state of Tamil Nadu. Finally, rising consumption has triggered a race for mining minerals and India is now a world leader in environmental conflicts.

Almost a century ago, Gandhi worried about an uncaring middle class in India, disconnected from the exploitation of labour and nature all around them. His solution to this was simple. Reconnect Indians to their civilisational virtues—simplicity, perseverance, patience, frugality and otherworldliness. He juxtaposed this with the dominant Western civilisational traits of enterprise, impatience and pursuit of material wealth. If India had to take its place in the world, Gandhi had argued, it had to be on our own civilisational terms. Our notions of well being and development had to be guided by our own virtues, and not by the cultural traits of the West.

Gandhi worried about an uncaring middle class in India, disconnected from the exploitation of labour and nature... His solution to this was simple. Reconnect Indians to their civilisational virtues—simplicity, perseverance, patience, frugality...

Today, conspicuous consumption in India is increasingly finding it difficult to mask the inequality on which it is anchored. In India, the top 1% of the population owns 58.4% of the nation's wealth. Little surprise therefore that it now ranks 132 out of 152 countries in its commitment to reducing inequality. By 2020, India's labour force will expand to almost 160-170 million, and the current model of growth—which prefers automation and machines over human workers—will only escalate an unemployment crisis. The romanticised economic model that promised that increased consumption would lead to increased production, which in turn would produce more employment, has run its course in the West and will soon follow suit in the East.

India's greatest strength, as Gandhi reminded us time and again, is its people. Today, a majority remain woefully underinvested in. India ranks 131st out of 188 countries on the Human Development Index. Our public education, housing and healthcare systems are crumbling, leaving behind people to fend off for themselves. While Western industrialised countries are beginning to engage with small-scale production, social entrepreneurship, increased corporate regulation, guaranteed minimum wages and encouraging voluntary simplicity and frugality, in India, the birthplace of Swaraj, we are going the other way.

India's middle classes need to seriously reflect on how it lives, what it consumes and how it consumes. An ethical form of production and consumption could be the first step towards building a bridge over troubled waters of inequality and discontent.

At Least 12 Dead, 10 Wounded In Suicide Car Bomb Blast In Kabul

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Representative image.

KABUL -- The death toll from a suicide car bombing in the west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday has more than doubled to 12, with at least 10 people wounded, acting Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.

Danish said the casualty toll could rise further. Police said earlier that a suicide attacker had detonated a car bomb in the western part of Kabul, killing at least five, although the target of the attack remained unclear.

Also on HuffPost India:

The Morning Wrap: JNU Wants To Find Inspiration In Army Tank; India-China's Doklam Standoff

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The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

On Sunday, in a heartbreaking event, England beat India in the ICC Women's World Cup final by 9 runs. The team which has performed spectacularly through the series, is nothing less than champions. Here's everything you need to know about the 11 stars of the team.

"If I had to name one Indian artist who was sensitive and devoted to the arts, it would be Raza Sahib." Atul Dodiya, an artist remembers Sayed Haider Raza, an Indian painter who lived and worked in France since 1950. On SH Raza's first death anniversary, Dodiya writes about their several meetings, his respect for Gandhiji and his love for poems.

In India, women are expected to be modestly dressed. And baring a breast, even if to feed a baby, is viewed as a brazen act. It's in fact unimaginable for a mother to breastfeed her child in public, unlike in countries like Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, the Philippines, Taiwan and the UK. As Kanchana TK, Director General, Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), argues, India needs a law to enable breastfeeding in public. In a country that will soon be home to the world's youngest population, protecting nursing rights for mothers will be critical for the health of the nation.

Main News

Before bidding farewell to Parliament on Sunday, outgoing President Pranab Mukherjee had some words of advice, both for the government and the Opposition. The Indian Constitution represents the "hopes and aspirations of a billion people" and there has to be a balance between change and continuity, President Pranab Mukherjee said, addressing his audience. He cautioned the government against taking the "ordinance route" for legislation, saying that when Parliament enacts laws without discussion, it "breaches the trust reposed in it by the people".

RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, which is headed by Dina Nath Batra has sent a five page recommendation to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). They want a lot of things to be removed from the text books. English, Urdu and Arabic words, a couplet by Mirza Ghalib, words of Rabindranath Tagore, M F Husain's paintings, and even a sentence that say "nearly 2,000 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in 2002".

While addressing " swachhta mahasabha" - an awareness programme against open defecation, the district magistrate of Aurangabad, allegedly asked a villager in Bihar to "sell his wife" if he could not afford to build a toilet at home.

Off The Front Page

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar has made a bizarre decision. He wants to place an Army tank on the campus at a prominent place so that it can serve as a constant reminder to students of the sacrifices that the Army jawans make. Kumar has sought the help of union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and General V K Singh to help him procure this army tank.

The number of Indian workers emigrating to the Gulf for work has dropped in the past couple of years, reports Times Of India. According to the report, the number of Indian workers emigrating to the GCC countries was 775,845 in 2014 and fell to 507,296 in 2016. This could be due to slowing economies of countries part of the GCC.

Opinion

An op-ed in Hindustan Times notes why India should keep the nuclear energy door open. The piece notes that a major milestone was passed in India-Japan relations and the future of the nuclear power by the coming into force of the bilateral civil nuclear agreement.

A Kashmiri social worker based in Delhi writes why he feels the middle ground is disappearing in the country. "My own political position is driven by the idea of peace, dialogue and reconciliation. For many back in Kashmir, this makes me something of a 'RSS chamcha'," he writes in a personal account.

With the military standoff between India and China continuing in the Doklam area, Beijing has resorted to harsh rhetoric to put psychological pressure on New Delhi. A ToI op-ed notes that the only way to resolve the Doklam standoff is to withdraw the troops of both countries. "As pointed out by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, a negotiated resolution to the Doklam standoff can be facilitated if both sides withdraw their troops from the area first. This will build the requisite mutual trust between the parties for talks."

Also on HuffPost

Best Deleted Tweets By Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump's New Communications Director

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Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump’s newly-appointed communications director, has attempted to downplay previous fall-outs with his new boss - by deleting tweets that might be seen as critical of the US President.

The Wall Street millionaire had previously called Trump a “hack politician”, but made clear on Friday that the President brings it up “every 15 seconds” as he apologised once again for the remark and the pair appeared to let bygones be bygones.

Scaramucci continued to put distance between himself and his old views by announcing on Saturday he was deleting old tweets critical of Trump, or at odds with his policies, in the name of “transparency”.

Many on Twitter pounced on the comment and said truly being transparent would mean detailing how his views changed.

The process appeared to begin before he revealed his transparency drive.

Some tweets have been deleted, while some contentious ones haven’t. Here’s a brief run through what’s still up and what isn’t.

Deleted: “Odd guy.”

Scaramucci tweeted a National Journal article about Trump endorsing Newt Gingrich in the 2012 Presidential race: “Odd guy. So smart with no judgment.”

Deleted: “Walls don’t work.” 

In 2015, he tweeted that “walls don’t work”, an allusion to Trump’s plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Deleted: “Enough is enough” on gun laws. 

“We (the USA) has 5% of the world’s population but 50% of the world’s guns,” he wrote in the deleted tweet. “Enough is enough. It is just common sense it apply more controls.” 

Live: On blaming all Muslims for terror

Scaramucci tweeted a quote from a David Cameron interview where he criticised Trump for “making a fundamental mistake of trying to blame all of Islam and all Muslims for what is the ideology and the actions of a minority”.

“It is a fight within Islam, overwhelming majority see Islam as a religion of peace, want to live in multiracial/ethnic/faith democracies,” Scaramucci tweeted. 

Live: Pro-gay marriage.

Not likely to sit well with all Republicans.

Deleted: On people who say climate chanhe is a ‘hoax’.

Trump has said climate change is a Chinese plot to make the US less competitive and a money-making “hoax”. In June, Trump announced he was pulling the US out of the Paris climate accord. This is what Scaramucci tweeted:

Deleted: Hillary Clinton is ‘incredibly incompetent’.

In 2012, he tweeted he hoped Hillary Clinton - later Trump’s nemesis - became the next President, saying: “I hope she runs, she is incredibly competent.”

Live: “Dance like no-one is watching ...”

Not about Trump, but inspiring. Oh, and a misattribution to Mark Twain.

Miffed IAS Officer Asks Bihar Villager To Sell Off His Wife If He Can't Build A Toilet For Her

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Image used for representational purposes only.

On Sunday, an IAS officer held a 'swachhta mahasabha' (cleanliness conference) in Aurangabad district in Bihar to urge villagers to build toilets in their homes. While informing the villagers about the government schemes that they were eligible to benefit from, district magistrate Kanwal Tanuj was interrupted by a villager who pointed out an issue that keeps many of them from availing the well-meaning government schemes -- and that is poverty. Miffed at the villager's question, Tanuj allegedly brusquely told him to sell off his wife if he cannot build a toilet in the house for her, The Telegraph reported.

So what was the villager's question? He had pointed out that he was too poor to spend money to build a toilet and would like an advance instead.

In Bihar, under the Centre's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Nitish Kumar's scheme for the state, villagers are eligible for a Rs 12,000 reimbursement if they build toilets in their homes. However, they are eligible for it only after the toilet has been built and the local panchayat issues a document verifying such a claim. The process seems legitimate on paper -- build a toilet, get reimbursed for it -- and is possibly designed to prevent people from taking advances and not building the toilets at all. However, it is general knowledge that several poor people may not be able to cough up that kind of money to build the toilet in the first place.

Tanuj later alleged that he was exasperated at the thought of the men -- like the villager who asked him the question -- not caring about women's security, when defecating in the open makes them vulnerable to sexual assault.

In effect, the villager's question should have been treated as a challenge that the government policies had failed to consider and ideally should spend time addressing. However, Tanuj lost his cool at what could have been a genuine query.

While it must be acknowledged that getting people to embrace hygienic toilet habits would ideally need a little nudge from the government, interactions involving government agents and citizens have to be empathetic and sensitive. It has to be considered that the government is asking people to embrace a new way of life, breaking out of years of conditioning, familiarity and often superstition. It is a known fact that several Indian villages consider defecating inside the home 'unholy' and an activity that goes against their religious beliefs. To overcome these challenges, agencies implementing such schemes have to be both firm and empathetic -- it's a tricky ground.

And at times, they seem to be failing at it. Take for example, the incident that took place in Pratapgarh in Rajasthan last month. The local civic body in the area had been trying to stop people from defecating in the open. In order to compel them to use community toilets, civic body officials would often visit the area popular for defecation and click pictures, hustling the people and threatening to shame them. When 44-year-old Zafar Hussain protested the process, he got into a scuffle with the civic body officials who allegedly beat him to death.

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