It's the biggest party of the year! Besides this morning's celebrations of the royal baby's birth, of course.

In addition to being the day royalty came into the world, Monday also brought forth fashion's biggest night: the blockbuster fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, better known as the Met Gala.

The party is hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, and Harry Styles.

This year's theme is "Camp: Notes on Fashion," and no one knows exactly what that's going to mean. It's a nod to "Notes on Camp," a 1964 Susan Sontag essay, that itself touches on how difficult "camp" is to define. It's something that has a lot of artifice, that's exaggerated. It brings to mind RuPaul and John Waters and Lady Gaga herself.

"Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It's not a lamp, but a 'lamp'; not a woman, but a 'woman.'" Camp can sometimes, from a "serious" point of view, be considered either kitsch, or bad art.

Here's a look at the some of the biggest, fakest, campiest looks on the 2019 Met Gala red carpet.

NEW DELHI — The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed the plea filed by 21 Opposition leaders seeking a review of its 8 April order directing the Election Commission to increase random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment. 

“We are not inclined to modify our order,” a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.

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The plea was filed by opposition leaders led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.

Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for petitioners, told the bench that the apex court had increased the random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment and they are now seeking that it should be increased to 25% at least. 

“It will be for the satisfaction of confidence building measures,” Singhvi tod the bench also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

Singhvi said the present increase of random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs to five polling booths per assembly segment amounted to a meagre two per cent and petitioners are seeking that it be raised to 25 per cent at least.

Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas made a splash at the 2019 Met Gala in a silver, caped gown by Dior, jewelry by Chopard, dramatic eye make-up and a spiky silver crown.

Chopra’s look, styled by Mimi Cuttrell, prompted comparisons to characters from Alice in Wonderland on Twitter.

But Chopra has always pulled out all stops for the Met.

At the 2017 Met Gala, themed ‘Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçon’, Chopra wore this Ralph Lauren trench coat dress with the endless train. 

In 2018 Met Gala, themed ‘Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination’, Chopra wore this velvet Ralph Lauren dress with a stunning, embellished head piece.

This year, Chopra walked the red carpet with husband Nick Jonas, who also wore Dior and sported a moustache a la Gomez Addams from The Addams Family. 

The couple said they were inspired by French king Louis XIV.

Chopra sported a bindi with her look because she said she “always looks for something that defines who I am and that’s an amalgamation of the East and the West.”

Or maybe you just wore a bindi, Priyanka. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

They posed for photos with friend and YouTube star Lilly Singh, who had also attended their wedding festivities last year.

Also, spotted on the red carpet was another Jonas brother, Joe, with actress and wife Sophie Turner in custom Louis Vuitton pieces. They recently tied the knot at a chapel in Las Vegas.

Chopra and Jonas were first spotted together at the 2017 Met Gala.

The two talked to YouTube star Liza Koshy about meeting for the first time and their first Met Gala moment.

Chopra Jonas gonna Chopra Jonas.

JAIPUR, Rajasthan — At 7.30 am on May 7, when Congress worker Ashok Kumar Mill heard that “fake” voters were voting in booth number 8 in the Fatehpur segment of the Jhunjhunu Lok Sabha seat, he quickly dialled 141-663-0565.

The number connected Mill with a call centre that heard his complaint and logged it on a Google document shared with a centralised polling-booth Congress “war room” hundreds of kilometres away in Jaipur, who alerted a local Congress unit back in Jhunjhunu.

Minutes after Mill made his call, a group of Congress workers arrived, policemen in tow, and demanded that booth officials verify the identity of every voter lined up outside the booth.

“There was no fake voting after that,” Mill said.

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Outgunned, outspent and out-campaigned by the wealthier and better organised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India’s grand old party — the Indian National Congress — is finally getting its act together. Here in Rajasthan, the party has set up a centralised control centre to keep tabs on voting in far-flung booths across one of India’s biggest states by land area, at a time when opposition parties — including the Congress — have repeatedly raised concerns about the conduct of the Election Commission of India.

“The Election Commission is functioning in a manner that raises a lot of questions,” senior Congressman and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal told HuffPost India earlier this week. “Their actions have fallen far short of how people expect an election to be conducted.”

To combat this perceived bias, a group of 8 Congress workers from Maharashtra led by the Congress’s general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pande, who is from Maharashtra himself, have camped out in Jaipur for the past month to coordinate the party’s efforts to get out the vote on polling day.

The war room was first tried out in the 2018 Rajasthan assembly election when the Congress beat the incumbent BJP state government led by Vasundhara Raje Scindia. HuffPost India and other media organisations were granted access to observe the war room at work.

Rajasthan, the only state where the Congress has set up such a system, is pivotal for both the Congress and the BJP in 2019. In 2014, the BJP swept all 25 seats en route to a landslide national win. This time, the Congress is hoping to pick up seats in a state where the local chapter has been consumed by rivalries and the BJP retains significant support.

Inside the voting war room

The Congress voting-day war room functions out of a large hall on the first floor of the party state headquarters in Jaipur, where 40 lawyers, chartered accountants, software engineers and party workers, and supporters sit arrayed at four long tables topped with computers.

The first table was occupied by the team led by 32-year-old former researcher Jinda Sandbhor and two young Congress leaders from Nagpur, Prafulla Gudadhe Patil and Vijay Saratkar, who monitored a series of leads as they streamed in from the complaints call-centre. The complaints ranged from the lack of drinking water at a particular booth to grave complaints like alleged booth capturing, an attack on one party’s workers by another party’s workers, and attempts to intimidate voters.

The second bench was occupied by 12 Congress leaders who were working as coordinators for each Lok Sabha seat that was going to poll on Monday.

Twelve lawyers sat on the third bench along with some chartered accountants to quickly respond to technical complaints regarding election norms and the code of conduct, while the fourth bench belonged Rajasthan Congress Committee Vice President Mumtaj Masih where Pande kept visiting throughout the day.

Every table had four to six computers where a google sheet was open which showed the complaints which were being received from various booth level workers of the Congress party from the 12 seats that were witnessing voting on May 6.

VVPAT Failure

At 8.22 am, Sandbhor ran from the complaints desk to the coordinators’ bench.

“Booth number 142 in Jayal seat is reporting that the VVPAT chits are showing wrong party symbol,” he said.  “Lotus chits are coming even after pressing the button in front of Congress’s symbol ’Hand.”

HuffPost India could not verify the authenticity of this complaint.

The Rajasthan Congress committee’s secretary Mahesh Sharma picked up his phone and called the collector of the district from where the complaint was received.

A lawyer from the legal bench drafted an email complaint to the Election Commission of India, the Chief Election Officer of Rajasthan state, and the district magistrate who is usually the returning officer for elections.

Half an hour later, the booth worker from Jayal told this war room that this complaint had been resolved. It was marked resolved on the Google sheet and the war room shifted its focus on the next complaint.

“The idea is to keep the election machinery and administration on their toes,” Pande, the Congress General Secretary, said. “This helps us get to every minute detail of what really is happening on the ground. We can pressurise the election authorities to rectify it immediately.”

The mechanism is simple. The booth workers call the call centre helpline with problems. The call centre updates the problem on a Google sheet with the name of the complainant, details of the area and constituency and the nature of the complaint.

The war room picks these complaints and makes sure even the smallest complaint is raised with the authorities and election officials.

“For smaller complaints we make calls,” said Sadanand Naik, a software engineer from Pune who has come from Maharashtra to help out. “For serious complaints, we call and email all the authorities from the election commission of India to the lowest election officer involved in the process of election.”

Booth-level training

The 8 person Congress team from Maharashtra has also spent a lot of time training close to 1000 booth-level polling agents on the intricacies of the election process.

“A polling agent should know his rights,” said Amar Jadhav, a doctor from Buldhana district of Maharashtra, volunteering his time. “Even a difference of 100 votes on each booth can lose you an election.”

Sushil Sharma, a lawyer who heads the Congress’s legal department in the state and heads the legal bench in this war room, said the war room had streamlined the party’s responses.

“Before 2018 assembly elections, eight to ten Congress leaders would sit in the party office on the polling day to address various complaints but that system was not as effective as this,” Sharma said. All these lawyers from the Congress’s legal cell have been deputed here today because we lawyers are aware of procedures and rules. The election officials cannot misguide us.”

Masih said the system meant polling agents no longer felt as if they were fighting this election by themselves.

“Earlier, the booth workers would run from pillar to post to resolve the issue on the polling booth. They had to manage everything at their own level without any backing,” Masih said. “It was like only our booth workers would fight the election at booth level only on their own.”

While the war room is certainly impressive, it alone cannot win the elections. In Rajasthan, the Congress has been dogged by reports of infighting amongst the party rank and file. Come May 23, the Rajasthan results are likely to play a key role in deciding who forms the government in Delhi.

Meghan Markle’s former “Suits” husband, Patrick J. Adams, knew just what to say when he heard the exciting news that Meghan and Prince Harry welcomed a baby boy on Monday. 

“Just heard that the world just got heavier by 7 pounds and 3 ounces. Much love to him and his incredible parents,” the actor tweeted, before talking about how amazing it is to become a parent for the first time. 

“Learned first hand 7 months ago how transformational becoming a parent is and couldn’t be happier for Meghan and Harry as they begin this adventure,” Adams wrote, adding the hashtag #playdatesoon. 

Adams and his wife, actress Troian Bellisario, welcomed a baby girl last year. 

Adams hilariously commented on Meghan’s royal engagement in 2017, pretending to be unaware that his TV fiancée at the time was seeing someone else. 

Adams and Bellisario also attended the royal wedding on May 19, 2018, along with a few of Meghan’s other former “Suits” co-stars.

He joked that he was trying to decide on what kind of “classy” present to get her and was choosing between a “blender or bread maker.” 

Meghan’s close friend and former co-star Sarah Rafferty also sent out a sweet tweet to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after learning the baby news. 

“Hearts are leaping for a beautiful, wondrous and healthy baby boy!” she wrote. “Sending much love and wishes for every blessing across the pond today and everyday!”

Subscribe to HuffPost’s Watching the Royals newsletter for all things Windsor (and beyond).

The annual Met Gala, hosted by Vogue editor Anna Wintour, wrapped up last night in New York. 

Per tradition, celebrities showed up at the fundraising gala in their most extra ensembles. While Lady Gaga and Billy Porter stood out for their dramatic sartorial choices, Priyanka Chopra wasn’t far behind.

Chopra Jonas made a splash at the 2019 Met Gala in a silver, caped gown by Dior, jewelry by Chopard, dramatic eye make-up and a spiky silver crown.

However, Indian Twitter wasted no time in coming up with the memes.

Here are some of the very best:

Meanwhile, Priyanka Chopra be like...

Over 50 women were detained under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code on Tuesday as they protested outside the Supreme Court in New Delhi against the clean chit given to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by an in-house panel investigating sexual harassment allegations against him. 

Multiple women said on Twitter that they were detained and taken in a police van to the Mandir Marg police station despite the protest being a peaceful one. 

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973 empowers a magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than four people in an area. This is usually imposed in an area when violence and rioting is anticipated. 

Reports said the women were mostly lawyers and activists who were protesting against the manner in which the investigation was carried out in the case. 

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Many of them took to Twitter, tweeting with the hashtag #SupremeInjustice to narrate how they were pushed into police vans and taken to the police station.  

Others said that the women were manhandled by the police and that they were not even allowed to protest for five minutes. 

People present at the police station said that they had been detained for over three hours. And there were paramilitary forces present to deal with the peaceful protests. 

The incident drew criticism from many quarters, with more Twitter users saying state machinery was being used to muzzle dissenting voices. 

Are you kidding me? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

The theme of the 2019 Met Gala was Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay ‘Notes on Camp’.

And who’s the reigning king of camp in Bollywood, my friends?

Camp is this man’s☝🏽daily wear.

Look at him! 👇🏽

Where was his invite, Anna Wintour?🧐

At the event this year was Deepika Padukone, attending the gala for the third time.

Padukone wore a custom Zac Posen 3D printed gown in pink and bespoke jewels and tiara by Lorraine Schwartz with her hair up in an exaggerated high ponytail.

Her stylist Shaleena Nathani dubbed this “Camp Barbie”.

A+ for effort because Padukone doesn’t always take risks with her look. 

Padukone said Posen took the gala’s theme and kept it beautiful and elegant. 

“It’s personal, everyone’s definition of camp is very, very different. Of course, it’s theatrical and drama and over the top, but you want to do it in an elegant and respectful manner,” she told Vogue.

All due respect to Deepika’s personal aesthetic and style, but elegance and respectful ≠ camp.

You know what is? This👇🏽. 

 And this.

And this.

 And this.

And this.

Literally Ranveer Singh’s entire wardrobe.

What a travesty to rob the Met Gala of this human repository of all things camp.

#CrashTheMetRanveer

Let’s go!

Truth or dare?

For politicians in India, the choice seems obvious. Of the hundreds of thinkpieces that will be written after the 2019 election, at least some will focus on the vitriol spewed, the politicisation of basically everything (from armed forces to terror attack), the Election Commission’s reluctance to chastise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blatantly communal utterances and yes, the dares that politicians keep giving each other.

Everything from drinking poison to a good ol’ debate has been proposed. 

On Monday, Modi threw a challenge at the Congress, asking it to contest the remaining phases of the Lok Sabha elections in the name of Rajiv Gandhi, whom he recently dubbed as “bhrashtachari no. 1”.

“A few days ago I had called a member of the naamdar parivar as ‘bhrashtachari (corrupt) no. 1’ and some people got such a severe stomach ache that they started crying aloud. The more they cry, the more will today’s generation come to know of the old truths. 

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“How a family looted the country in the 20th century, destroyed it — the youth of the country should know. I am challenging the Congress from this dais that when polling takes place in the remaining phases in Punjab, Delhi and in Bhopal let it fight the elections in the name of Rajiv Gandhi,” Modi said at a rally in Jharkhand. 

The BJP and its footsoldiers have been scrambling since then to undo the damage caused by Modi’s tasteless reference to Rajiv Gandhi’s death.

Modi’s dare is just the latest among many that have been thrown around in the 2019 polls. Here are the others. 

One dare here, one dare there

On Monday, Modi dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to arrest him for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, a day after three people were taken into police custody in Ghatal for allegedly mouthing the slogan as her convoy passed by.

“Didi has thrown people in jail for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. I thought of saying Jai Shri Ram here today so that she can throw me inside jail too. That way, the people of Bengal might be protected from the wrath of TMC regime,” Modi said at a rally in West Bengal.

Banerjee, on the other hand, has challenged “expiry babu” (her current favourite name for the PM) to participate in a direct debate with her on television or in a public rally.

She has also dared Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah to compete with her on chanting Sanskrit mantras. 

“Puja does not only mean sporting a tilak, Amit (Shah) babu and (Narendra) Modi babu. Come have a competition of mantras with me. Let’s see who knows more Sanskrit mantras,” Mamata said at a rally in Kolkata.

The seat saga

In April, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor dared Modi to show courage and contest from a seat in Kerala or Tamil Nadu. This came after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to fight from Wayanad, apart from Amethi. 

Shah had dared Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to contest against Modi from Varanasi, according to India Today.

Debate, debate, debate

Apart from Banerjee’s challenge to a public debate, Rahul Gandhi called Prime Minister a “darpok” (coward) and dared him to a five minute face-to-face debate on issues such as Rafale and national security. 

He had also thrown an “open book” challenge at Modi and listed three topics for a debate. 

“Dear PM, scared of debating me on corruption? I can make it easier for you. Let’s go open book, so you can prepare: 1. RAFALE+Anil Ambani, 2. Nirav Modi, 3. Amit Shah+Demonetisation,” Gandhi had tweeted.

Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu also dared Modi for a debate on BJP’s manifesto for the 2014 elections. 

And, the best (or, the worst?) of them all:

‘Consume poison, survive’

A Gujarat minister asked Rahul Gandhi to consume poison to check if he was indeed an ‘avatar’ of Lord Shiva as claimed by his party workers.

Gujarat tribal development minister Ganpat Vasava said Rahul Gandhi’s “Shiva reincarnation” theory (which he attributed to the Congress) can be proven only if he survives after having “500 grams of poison”.

Lest you think that the election madness is over, here’s a reminder that there are two more phases and the counting day to go. 

(With PTI inputs)

The Met Gala is always the most flamboyant red carpet event in the showbiz calendar, but with this year’s theme being Camp, things really stepped up a notch. 

Monday’s annual fashion bash, which marks the opening of the New York Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibit, was hosted by Lady Gaga and Harry Styles and their specially invited guests did their best to impress as they arrived at the event. 

Here’s just 35 looks from the red carpet we need to talk about...

Host Lady Gaga had not one, but FOUR red carpet looks

Harry Styles, who was also co-hosting the event, borrowed one of Pat Butcher’s earrings and Simon Cowell’s Cuban heels for the occasion 

Katy Perry came as an actual chandelier. Sia was shook. 

After stealing the show at this year’s Oscars, Billy Porter decided to keep things low key at the Met Gala

His Pose co-stars Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson and Indya Moore left us gagged

Cara Delevingne served a serious look

Don’t even start us on how fabulous Lupita Nyong’o looked

Or Janelle Monae for that matter

Ezra Miller’s look had us totally freaked out, but in a good way (we think)

Jared Leto turned up with his own severed head, for reasons we’re not quite sure of

There was an obligatory appearance from the Kardashian clan

Celine Dion continued to live her best life

Newlyweds Sophie Turner and Joe Jonas made their debut as a married couple

While Joe’s brother Nick and wife Priyanka Chopra put on a loved-up display

Three words: Dame Joan Collins

Cardi B paid homage to Rihanna’s famous omelette dress

Despite appearing in arguably the campest film of the year, Rocket Man’s Richard Madden and Taron Egerton played it very safe

But sadly they were not the only blokes who were too afraid to break away from a black suit

There were some outfits that totally didn’t exactly fit the theme, but they’re forgiven for being so fierce anyway

Bette Midler and her daughter, ladies and gents

Zendaya as Cinderella was stunn-ing

Serena Williams, take a bow

Dua Lipa was flying the flag for the UK

RuPaul came out of drag, but still werked that runway

Miley Cyrus appeared to lend support to the #FreeBritney social media movement on Saturday with a shoutout during a hometown concert in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cyrus was singing her 2009 hit “Party in the USA,” which includes the lines, “That’s when the DJ dropped my favorite tune / And a Britney song was on / And a Britney song was on / And a Britney song was on.”

But Cyrus let the crowd sing the repeats while she shouted, “Free Britney!” according to USA Today.

Cyrus’ comment referred to the speculation from some fans that she’s being held against her will.

Although it was not immediately clear whether Cyrus was being tongue-in-cheek, Variety noted that her comments were interpreted by those promoting the conspiracy theory as a show of support.

Last month, Spears checked into a mental health facility to help manage emotional distress caused by health issues suffered by her father, Jamie Spears. 

Some fans interpreted the decision as proof Spears was being held against her will, but the singer told fans “all is well” in a video message on Instagram last month.

However, Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, may have given fuel to the #freebritney movement on Monday by filing a court document asking to be informed of all matters pertaining to the singer and the conservatorship run by her father, according to The Blast.

Sources tell the website that Lynne spoke with her daughter before filing the documents and said she just wanted to be more involved.

TMZ is reporting that Lynne Spears is worried her daughter is not getting the appropriate treatment after she read reports the singer was being held against her will and pumped with drugs she doesn’t need.

The website also said that claim was “demonstrably untrue because the conservatorship does not give Jamie that power.”

Summer is a time for holidays—schools and colleges have their breaks, and if you’re trying to make plans with your family, this is when adults take vacations too. And when travel is on the cards, photography can’t be far behind. Everyone wants memories of the places they visited and nothing quite captures that as well as a good photograph (or even a video).

A couple of decades ago, taking pictures was the preserve of the professionals and specialists, and cameras were expensive gadgets. Not anymore. Today, you can get a decent camera without a severe dent in your bank account, or right in your phone itself.

If you are looking to grab a camera for some photography this summer, without investing too heavily (well, at least initially) here are some options  well worth checking out. We’ve included links where you can buy these cameras from, although with online deals, the prices may vary by the time you click.

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Family friendly

Nikon Coolpix W100

Buy it online: Rs 8,999

For those seeking a simple point-and-shooter that can take all the bumps and exertions of lots of travel, this is perhaps the best option. Its specs will not make onlookers gasp in amazement—it comes with a 13.2-megapixel sensor, 2.7-inch LCD and just 3X optical zoom, and has a rather simple, basic design.

What makes it a good option for the holidays (apart from a reasonable price) is that it’s water resistant (it can go upto 10 metres underwater), very tough (it can be dropped from 1.8 metres without damage), and super simple to operate. It’s one of the best options for anyone wanting to grab a camera just for good old point and snapping, and can also deliver full HD video.

It delivers very good results in normal light conditions, comes with Bluetooth connectivity and is solid and simple enough to use even for a child.

Getting serious

Canon EOS 1300D

Buy it online: Rs 22,999

DSLRs are getting more affordable, and for enthusiasts who don’t want to start spending in the pro-gear range, the Canon EOS 1300D is a great option.

if you feel you are in the mood to get into some serious photography done this summer, then we would recommend starting out with the Canon EOS 1300D. At Rs 22,999, it does not cost the Earth and still delivers a very good 24.1 megapixel sensor. You can start out with the kit lens (18-55mm) and then gently keep investing in other lenses—Canon cameras have a number of options—as your skills improve and/or your needs increase.

For instance, you could add a special lens for portraits or a telephoto lens for wildlife photography in future. This is a long-term investment for people getting serious about photography.

Small, yet powerful

Sony HX90V

Buy it online: Rs 23,999

If you want a powerful camera that is still small enough to slip into your pocket, yet versatile enough to use for a party with friends, or a 30x zoom shot while birdwatching, then the Sony HX90V is your choice.

It has powerful hardware, as apart from 30x optical zoom, it also has a very good 18.2-megapixel sensor. There’s a tiltable LCD display that can be flipped 180-degrees if you want to take selfies, and an OLED viewfinder too. It also supports Wi-Fi to upload your photos on the go, at a price that is pretty reasonable for what you’re getting.

This is the perfect device for someone who wants it all, but doesn’t like the size or long-term cost of a DSLR.

For the thrill seekers

Noise Play Vlog

But it online: Rs 5,999

Action cameras—most famously the GoPro—are small and rugged cameras that you can strap on to your bike, or wear on top of a helmet, to record things as they take place, whether you’re climbing a mountain, or out for a hike, or just documenting your life.

But although the GoPro made the category famous, its price might put people off. Enter the Noise Play Vlog. This tiny camera packs in a 16 megapixel sensor and is capable of shooting 4K video. Water resistant packaging means you can take it underwater, and it’s also rugged enough to mount on a vehicle. It has electronic image stabilisation to ensure you get clear videos and snaps, no matter how shaky things get.

There is a handy burst mode to capture three to five images per second, options to add effects, Wi-Fi connectivity and best of all, the option to add an external microphone if need be.

Click and print

Instax SQ6

Buy it online: Rs 7,900

Instant cameras—where you take a picture and then see it printed out in front of you from the camera itself in a matter of minutes—are back. They might not deliver the sort of detail and colours that modern digital cameras do, but they give you a printed copy of what you have clicked, laden with retro looks and feels.

If you like to pin real photographs to boards and albums instead of just sharing snaps on social networks, then one of the best options for beginners is the Instax SQ6, which looks like the Instagram logo, and comes with multiple shooting options (including even a selfie mode), delivering pictures that are slightly larger than basic instant camera models.

It’s easy enough to use, and usually delivers good results, although the pictures look a little retro. It’s the perfect companion for people who want immediate results on their travels. Just be ready to shell out about Rs 650 for film cartridges, which give you ten shots each.

On your phone

Redmi Note 7 Pro

Buy it online: Rs 13,999

Purists might scoff at the idea of taking photos with your smartphone, but the best camera is the one you have with you. And there’s no gadget we ever spend as much time with, as we do with our phones. Now, if you’re buying a flagship phone, like the Apple iPhone XS, Google Pixel 3, or the Samsung Galaxy S10, then you can be pretty sure the camera is also top-notch, and many of these phones are now being used for professional photography.

But even if you’re buying a budget-friendly phone, you can still get a good camera and for this, we would recommend the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro.

You can read all about the phone in our review, but what you need to know here is that it packs in a massive 48-megapixel sensor, as well as a secondary 5-megapixel camera for adding depth of field. The camera can be a little inconsistent, but is capable of capturing an amazing amount of detail, allowing you to zoom in and see things that you would have otherwise missed.

Video is quite good too—you can shoot 4K video, if you wish. And as we mention in our review, it’s a really good phone as well, so if you’re looking to buy a new smartphone and care about photography, this is one to keep in mind.

Researchers have discovered evidence of cocaine and hallucinogenic compounds in a leather bag believed to have belonged to shamans at an ancient burial site in Bolivia, according to Science magazine.

An analysis of the findings beneath ancient llama dung revealed evidence of “multiple psychoactive plants,” including key compounds (harmine and dimethyltryptamine) of the hallucinogenic plant ayahuasca (which is still used today).

It’s considered the richest find to date of ancient mind-altering drugs in South America.

The drugs were discovered inside the leather bag in a 1,000-year-old smaller pouch made of fox snouts in a rock shelter in the Andes highlands in southwestern Boliva. The find was detailed in a study by researchers from universities in California, Pennsylvania, Bolivia and New Zealand, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The drugs weren’t for recreational use, according to the scientists, but were likely used by shamans to induce “nonordinary states of consciousness” as part of funeral rituals. Or they may have been used for medicinal purposes.

The fact that the materials came from diverse areas “suggests that hallucinogenic plants moved across significant distances and that an intricate botanical knowledge was intrinsic to pre-Columbian ritual practices,” the study states.

“Whoever had this bag of amazing goodies … would have had to travel great distances to acquire those plants,” said Melanie Miller, lead study author and a bio-archaeologist at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. “Or they had really extensive exchange networks,” she told Science magazine.

The pouch also held various “drug paraphernalia,” including a wooden “snuffing tube” and bone spatula seed crushers.

When you’re dating, you bring your sexting A-game — the texts exchanged are hot and detailed with just the right amount of kink.

Once you’re married, the bar for what passes as a sext is quite a bit lower. 

Gone are the days of describing precisely how you’re going to get each other off; now, a properly loaded dishwasher and your good pair of sweatpants are major turn-ons. 

Below, we’ve rounded up 19 hilarious tweets that show how sexting changes once you’re married. 

When you dive into a dessert recipe that calls for baking soda or baking powder, it can be difficult to remember the difference between the two — and for good reason: They share similar names, appearances and packaging. 

There are still distinctions in terms of how the two ingredients are used in recipes, however, so we went to the experts to break them down in a way that you’ll never forget. (Like, ever.)

How To Remember The Difference

If the difference between baking soda and baking powder is too confusing, British Columbia-based professional chef and baker Paula Hingley has a brilliant mind hack you can use: Essentially, baking soda needs an acidic component to activate it, whereas baking powder already has the acid built in.

“Because of this, baking powder is ready to go and has the power to lift your cakes, cookies or muffins, without the addition of anything acidic, like lemon juice,” Hingley said.

So the next time you’re unsure, just remember: Baking powder has the power. Genius, no?

The Science Behind It

Both baking soda and baking powder are what the pros call “chemical leavening agents.”

“They work by releasing carbon dioxide within a dough or batter, which creates air pockets in the final product,” Hingley said. This chemical reaction is what helps baked goods expand or rise in the oven. But these agents work a bit differently to make that happen.

Baking soda is an alkaline compound called sodium bicarbonate, the active ingredient that gets a rise out of your baked goods. But it doesn’t do so on its own: Baking soda needs to be paired with an acidic ingredient (think: lemon juice, yogurt or buttermilk) to trigger the chemical reaction necessary, resulting in those ever-important bubbles, according to certified culinary scientist Jessica Gavin, author of “Easy Culinary Science for Better Cooking.”

Heat isn’t needed for the bubbles to form, Gavin said, so mixing and transferring your baked good to the oven posthaste will maximize gas retention and give the finished product the lift, lightness and texture that makes it delicious.

Baking powder is essentially baking soda already formulated with an acid (cream of tartar) and an inert stabilizer (cornstarch), Gavin said. While baking soda is the active ingredient in both cases, baking powder only needs moisture to trigger a reaction — no additional acid required.

There are two types of baking powder: single-acting and double-acting. “Single-acting only needs moisture for reacting and no heat, so recipes must be baked right away,” Gavin said. “Double-acting forms some bubbles when mixed, and a secondary release occurs when the heat is added.”

This provides a little extra buffer between prepping and baking, which comes in handy if your batter or dough isn’t going to be baked right away (say, when you freeze cookie dough to bake later, Hingley said).

When A Recipe Calls For Both

So what’s the deal with recipes that require baking soda and baking powder to be used together?

“Because baking soda works with acid, its leavening capability is limited by the amount of acidity in the recipe,” Hingley said. When the carbon dioxide created by the baking soda and acid isn’t enough to make the batter rise, add baking powder to give the dish an extra boost.

Next time you’re baking, just remember: Baking powder has the power to lift without being mixed with acid. Here’s to fluffier cakes!

NEW DELHI — Over 200 Delhi University teachers have issued a public statement condemning Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making “derogatory and untrue” remarks about former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

Their statement came after Modi in a rally on Saturday targeted Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue and said “your father was termed ‘Mr Clean’ by his courtiers, but his life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari No 1’ (corrupt number 1).”

“Narendra Modi has lowered the dignity of the office of the prime minister by making derogatory and untrue remarks about the late Rajivji, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation,” the statement issued Monday night and signed by 207 teachers read.

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No prime minister has ever “stooped” to this level through such actions as has Modi, it said.

The statement has also been tweeted by the Gandhi family’s close aide and Congress leader Sam Pitroda.

The nation acknowledges the achievements of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, they said in the statement.

“History records the deeds of the good and the noble, but rarely does it pay attention to the carping of lesser individuals,” it read.

The statement had references to the 1999 Kargil war and the telecommunication revolution when Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister.

“When India beat back the invaders from Kargil, our soldiers shouted slogans praising Rajiv Gandhi for the Bofors gun even though Rajivji had been martyred a decade ago,” the statement read.

“If our IT companies earn, each year, billions of dollars in foreign revenue it is because of the farsighted wisdom of Rajivji. If India is connected as a nation through the advances in the telecom sector it is because of the policies and actions of Rajivji,” it said.

According to the statement, if train travel is so much more convenient today it is because of his (Rajiv Gandhi) acumen in computerising rail reservation.

The statement was also signed by former Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) president Aditya Narayan Misra, two DU executive council members, three academic council members, DUTA vice president and joint secretary, and a member of the varsity’s finance committee.

AMBALA — In a veiled attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Tuesday said the Mahabharata character Duryodhana too had such arrogance .

Addressing a public meeting, she also criticised Modi for calling her late father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi ‘Bhrashtachari Number 1’ (the most corrupt).

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She dared Modi to fight the Lok Sabha elections on issues like development rather than divert the people’s attention.

This country has never forgiven ego and arrogance. History is witness to this, the Mahabharata is witness to this, she said at the meeting in support of Kumari Selja, the Congress candidate from Ambala.

Duryodhana also had such arrogance. When Lord Krishna went to make him understand, he tried to take him captive, the Congress general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh said.

She read out by Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, saying wisdom is the first casualty before someone’s downfall: Jab naash manush par chhata hai, pehle vivek mar jata hai... 

She said if the prime minister has courage he should fight the Lok Sabha elections on issues related to development, employment, farmers and women.

He should face the people and tell them what he has done for them over the past five years and what he plans to do in the future, she said.

You are the PM, you are a big leader of the BJP, you should understand this. Otherwise the people will teach you a lesson, she said.

This election is about achievements of the BJP-led Central government. But to hide their failures, they try to divert the attention of people of country, she said.

Priyanka Gandhi said the people of the country are wise.

“You cannot mislead the people. The people of this country make every leader answerable and they will make you answerable as well, she said.

She attacked Modi for recently saying that Rajiv Gandhi’s life ended as ‘Bhrashtachari Number 1’.

When BJP leaders go out to campaign, they do not talk about issues. They do not say why they have not fulfilled the promises they made, she said.

They raise other issues. Sometimes they say the elephant was sleeping for 70 years, sometimes they seek votes in the name of martyrs, and at other times they insult those from my family who sacrificed their lives, she added.

“But they do not talk about your needs, your problems that need to be resolved, she said.

These polls are not about one family, this election is about crores of families whose hopes and aspirations have been completely broken by this government and the prime minister, she said.

Former Union minister Selja is taking on the sitting BJP MP R L Kataria in Ambala.

On my daughter’s fifth birthday I gave her a necklace that said: “Though she be but little, she is fierce”. The quote comes from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – and I couldn’t have found a more inspirational message.

When we’re out together, I wear a necklace of my own that says, simply, ‘Feminist’. It’s a clear message to the world, and to my children, that feminism matters. I am determined to raise my daughter as one – and my son, too, because I can’t imagine anything more important than teaching them to fight for equality. Particularly when we live in a world which is anything but. 

[Read More: Meghan And Harry’s Most Inspiring Feminism Quotes For Their New Baby Boy To Live By]

From the UK’s growing gender pay gap, to statistics showing 20% of women have experienced some type of sexual assault since the age of 16, to the existence of FGM and pregnancy-related discrimination– it’s clear we’ve got a long, long way to go before we win this particular battle of the sexes. 

And even when research shows that gender stereotyping can cause significant harm in later life, it’s still virtually impossible to get away from throwaway comments such as “boys will be boys”, while girls are told that showing drive and determination is “bossy”. 

It can sometimes feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall when you notice gender norms being consistently reinforced in daily life – such as walking into your child’s nursery to see someone handing a little girl a doll to play with, and a little boy a truck or car. 

So, what do you do if you want to raise your kids as equals, and to treat others in exactly the same way? Here are six ideas to help kids of either gender, or none, identify as feminists. 

[Read more: Kids’ Books That Challenge Gender Norms Can Change Your Child’s World View]

1. Find Out What It Means

Some people are confused by the definition of feminism – believing, wrongly, that it means tipping the balance to make those who identify as women stronger or more successful than men. But feminists want political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Ergo, feminism IS equality.

I have a simple phrase I use all the time with my kids if I hear the dreaded phrase, “only boys can...” or “only girls can...”. “That’s wrong,” I say. “Boys and girls are the same. They can do the same things.” My proudest moment? Seeing my daughter set a bunch of older kids straight in the local playground with exactly this phrase. In fact, she went one better with her brother, coining the wisdom, “everyone has bums” – which is as gender inclusive as it comes.

2. Read To Them

A simple way to change how your kids view gender is by reading books with them that challenge lazy norms or stereotypes, recent research shows. Here is a list of six groundbreaking titles you could try. My daughter’s favourite is the ‘Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls’ series – we read about an inspirational woman every single night. 

3. Talk About It

Clinical psychologist Dr Helen McCarthy told me kids love being included in discussions where their point of view is listened to respectfully. Sitting down together for a family dinner can be a great time to unpick any sexist comments they may have heard at school. “Don’t panic if your child seems to hold a view that you don’t agree with,” Dr McCarthy said. “You can say you don’t agree and why – and this can help them shape their own view.”

[Read more: ‘Everyone Has Bums’: 7-Year-Old’s Brilliantly Simple Take On Gender]

4. Watch What They Watch

Sometimes the most seemingly innocent TV programmes can unwittingly reinforce gender norms you may not be happy with: like Peppa Pig with its subtle, but insidious gender stereotyping. Boys “aren’t allowed” in Peppa’s treehouse, and Daddy Pig and George express disgust when Daddy Pig’s football shirt is accidentally dyed pink. Bad form, piggy pals. 

[Read More: Why Peppa Pig Is A Terrible Role Model for Kids]

5. Let Them Wear Pink

Don’t limit their choices – as long as they’re their choices. My daughter loved pink, and for a while, would only wear dresses. She’s coming out of that now, mainly because she loves rock climbing (and you can’t climb properly dressed as a princess), but I was mindful not to dictate what she wanted to wear, because feminism is also about choice. Never have I seen an expression of purer joy than the look on my two-year-old son’s face when he got to wear his sister’s gold sequin pom-pom skirt to the park. 

6. Give Them Options

Tell the people who love your children that you’re committed to not stereotyping your kids – and steer them towards gender-equal or gender-neutral gift-giving. For every doll your little girl is given, ask people to consider getting trucks and cars, too. For every tool kit bought for your son, get the ingredients to go in a toy kitchen. Provide a range of options and they’ll soon decide for themselves. 

Activists from women’s groups and members of civil society have written an open letter to retired judges urging them to speak “on the side of justice and fairness” over the allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. 

In a letter, the full text of which has been reproduced in Scroll, they said, “Unfortunately, today we are facing unprecedented crisis of credibility of Supreme Court, as the Court in dealing with the complaint of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice has acted not only in utter violation of principles of natural justice but also in contravention of Vishakha Judgment and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013. ”

Gogoi, on Monday, got a clean chit from the Supreme Court’s In-House Inquiry Committee which “found no substance” in the allegations of the former woman employee of the apex court.

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Immediately after the office of apex court’s Secretary General came out with the findings of the committee, the woman issued a press statement saying that she was “highly disappointed and dejected”.

The activists, in the letter, said that the woman had been denied a copy of the report, which was in violation of her right as a complainant. “This in our understanding is a clear violation of any procedures of a fair and independent enquiry,” the letter read.

The three-member Supreme Court committee, which completed its task in 14 days, proceeded ex-parte as the woman had opted out of the inquiry on 30 April after participating for three days.

She had issued a press statement describing as “very frightening” the atmosphere of the panel and raised various objections including denial of her lawyer’s presence.

The activists appealed to the retired judges “to lend your support to the complainant’s right to unbiased, impartial enquiry proceedings and urging them to call upon the Supreme Court to take measures to correct the prevailing situation, by establishing proper procedure to enquire into the allegations”.

“What is at stake is not only the rights of women but also the credibility of the Supreme Court,” the letter read.

Over fifty protesters, mostly women lawyers and activists, were detained outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday while they were protesting against the procedure adopted to deal with the sexual harassment case against Chief Justice Gogoi.

A key reason plastic trash is so damaging to the environment is that it doesn’t disappear ― it breaks into small pieces called microplastics that can linger for decades or more and can travel on the air, in water, and inside living creatures.

Scientists around the world now issue frequent warnings that these plastic particles are nearly everywhere. They’ve been found on the planet’s highest peaks and in the lowest trenches.

The United Nations Environment Program estimated in 2014 that the scourge of plastics in our seas causes at least $13 billion in damage annually to marine ecosystems (at the time, the UNEP said that figure was likely a “significant underestimate”).

Scientists have also speculated the problem will soon be so widespread that the material will wind up in the geological record.

“Once buried, being so hard-wearing, plastics have a good chance to be fossilized ― and leave a signal of the ultimate convenience material for many million years into the future,” Jan Zalasiewicz, a professor of paleobiology at England’s University of Leicester, said in a 2016 paper. “The age of plastic may really last for ages.”

Here’s a look at some of the more far-flung places plastics have appeared on our planet.

In an isolated section of the French Pyrenees.

Researchers expressed astoundment last month after discovering microplastics in a secluded region of the Pyrenees mountain range in France, about 75 miles from the nearest town. The scientists speculated that the plastic particles — so small you can’t see them with the naked eye — were transported by the wind to an area thought to be as close a representation of a pristine environment as exists.

“It opens up the possibility that it’s not only in the cities” that people are breathing in plastic, but that “it can travel quite some distance from the sources,” Steve Allen, a lead researcher on the study said at the time. 

This wasn’t a one-off finding. Allen and his team found a daily average of 365 deposits of microplastics over an area of a square meter. In an interview with The New York Times, Allen described the material as like dust from the Sahara Desert, blowing across the planet.

At the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Researchers said last year they observed heavy doses of microplastics at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest known place on the planet.

In the trench’s most polluted areas, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Scientists said they counted as many as 2,000 pieces of microplastics in a liter of water.

“These results suggest that manmade plastics have contaminated the most remote and deepest places on the planet,” the researchers wrote.

Earlier in 2018 scientists scouring the Deep-Sea Debris Database, an effort to catalogue such things, said they found the deepest-ever piece of plastic trash: A plastic bag floating in the Mariana Trench some 36,000 feet deep. 

In Arctic and Antarctic sea ice.

Greenpeace noted in 2018 that it found plastic waste and traces of dangerous chemicals in water and snow samples in Antarctica. Aside from microplastics found in more than a dozen water samples, the environmental group said it saw large pieces of waste linked to commercial fishing in the area, including buoys and fishing nets drifting by.

“We may think of the Antarctic as a remote and pristine wilderness,” Frida Bengtsson, who works on Greenpeace’s Protect the Antarctic campaign, said in a statement at the time. “But from pollution and climate change to industrial krill fishing, humanity’s footprint is clear. These results show that even the most remote habitats of the Antarctic are contaminated with microplastic waste.”

German scientists said earlier in 2018 that they found record levels of microplastics in sea ice throughout the Arctic. The researchers noted that as sea ice thaws at increasing rates due to climate change, the plastic will eventually make its way back into the water column where it will have unknown effects on wildlife.

“No one can say for certain how harmful these tiny plastic particles are for marine life, or ultimately also for human beings,” Ilka Peeken, a researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, told BBC News at the time.

On uninhabited islands.

Many remote islands have been coated by ocean plastics for years, but some are so far from civilization that researchers are perpetually stunned by the levels of pollution.

Henderson Island, which lies some 3,000 miles from the nearest major population center in the middle of the eastern Pacific Ocean, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. The U.N. agency says the area is “one of the few atolls in the world whose ecology has been practically untouched by a human presence.”

But in 2017, scientists declared Henderson as having the highest density of plastic waste anywhere in the world. By some estimates, more than 37 million pieces of plastic are on the island.

This story is part of a series on plastic waste, funded by SC Johnson. All content is editorially independent, with no influence or input from the company.