A driver in Biddeford, Maine recently captured a feel-good moment on camera after traffic stopped for a long line of ducks crossing the road, followed by another really long line of ducks followed by two dawdlers.

“Proof that there are more good people in this world than bad! Not one person in the 2 lines of traffic were beeping or impatient with these guys! Even the last 2 stragglers!” Karen Ramunno wrote on Facebook.

Heavy rains have battered large swathes of the country with several states grappling with floods. Sixteen deaths in flood-related incidents have been reported from western Maharashtra in the last seven days, according to PTI, while the toll in Karnataka has risen to five since Sunday.

Maharashtra

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas. 

Till Wednesday, around 1.32 lakh flood-affected people in Pune region (comprising districts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur) were shifted to safer places, Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar said, according to PTI.

“The road communication between Sangli and Kolhapur and between Kolhapur and Belgaum (in Karnataka) has been affected,” he said, adding that people should avoid traveling on Mumbai-Bengaluru national highway (NH 4).

On Thursday, nine people drowned and four were missing after a boat engaged in rescue work overturned in a water body in Maharashtra’s flood-hit Sangli district, an official told PTI.

Fadnavis said on Wednesday that the state received 104 percent of average rain during June-August period, most of it in western Maharashtra and Konkan regions. 

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Karnataka

Nearly 43,000 people have so far been evacuated from flood-hit and rain-affected areas of Karnataka, where nine people have died, authorities said on Thursday.

The worst-hit was Belagavi district, where six persons have lost their lives, while 40,180 people have been evacuated, reported PTI.

Two persons lost their lives in rain-related incidents in Uttara Kannada district, from where 3,088 people have been evacuated till Thursday, and one in Shivamogga, according to official figures.

Nearly 17,000 people are taking shelter in relief camps.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is currently camping in Belagavi supervising relief and rescue operations.

Meanwhile, the state has agreed to release five lakh cusecs water from Almatti dam to help affected people in Kolhapur and Sangli districts of Maharashtra, an official said.

Goa

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said the state government is on “high alert” in view of the forecast of heavy rainfall in next few days, and people have been advised not to venture into the sea.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Goa, including the state capital Panaji, on Thursday morning.

The India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) office on Wednesday predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall in the coastal state for next couple of days.

Sawant said several villages in Bardez, Pernem and Bicholim talukas of North Goa district were flooded after water was released from Tillari dam following heavy showers in its catchment areas. 

Andhra Pradesh

A third warning signal was raised in Srikakulam district as the flood level at Gotta Barrage on River Vamsadhara crossed 1.11 lakh cusecs on Thursday morning.

The second warning signal was continuing at Thotapalli Barrage on River Nagavali with an inflow of 43,479 cusecs.

Heavy downpour in the upper catchment area in Odisha is resulting in copious inflows into Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers, the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority said.

A 60-member team of NDRF and 35-member SDRF and 60 personnel of Fire Services Department have been deployed in Srikakulam district for rescue and relief operation in view of the flood situation.

Madhya Pradesh

Moderate to heavy rains had been witnessed across many parts of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.

The administration had urged the residents of villages in the submergence area of Sardar Sarovar Dam in four districts of Madhya Pradesh to move to safer areas.

Officials, according to PTI, said the level of the dam’s backwaters has been rising in the districts of Barwani, Dhar, Alirajpur and Khargone in Madhya Pradesh.

Permanent rehabilitation sites and temporary tin sheds have been built outside the submergence area, Indore divisional commissioner Akash Tripathi said.

Kerala

Several parts of Kerala received heavy rainfall on Thursday with the state disaster management authority issuing a red alert for three districts in the morning.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan held a review meeting on the rains as five NDRF teams were deployed in the state. The state has requested for 10 more teams. 

Gujarat

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall in regions of south and central Gujarat on Thursday and Friday, according to The Times of India. 

Two Indian Air Force helicopters had on Monday rescued thirteen villagers stranded in Mangarol taluka of Surat district, as heavy rains lashed the southern part of the state over the past few days, officials told PTI.

(With PTI inputs)

MUMBAI, Maharashtra —In a March interview with HuffPost India, actor Shefali Shah spoke about Bollywood’s ageist attitude towards women.

“The shelf life for male stars is as long as their—what do I say—life expectancy. But for women, earlier it was 17 to, say, 21?” Shah said.“Now, of course, it’s a lot better.”

Shah had been cast in a key role in Netflix’s Delhi Crime, an indicator of how streaming platforms and new TV were exercising more inclusivity as compared to legacy studios in TV and Bollywood. Neena Gupta and Ratna Pathak Shah, too, had lamented the lack of well-rounded, complex roles for women in the industry. 

“They can barely write a good part for Deepika Padukone, so how are they going to write a good part for me?” Shah had said.

That narrative is slowly beginning to change with the explosion of digital streaming platforms.

On Monday morning, news broke that veteran actress Shabana Azmi had been cast as Admiral Margaret Parangosky, the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence, in Showtime’s sci-fi show called Halo. The show is an adaptation of the Xbox video game and will be produced by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg.

“My agent in London got in touch with me for this role. Initially, there was a date clash but thankfully things worked out and I can’t wait to start shooting!” Azmi told HuffPost India in an interview. “It’s a completely new territory for me as it deals with Artificial Intelligence.” 

Directed by Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror), much of Halo will be shot in Budapest, Hungary. Azmi will be there in 8 of the series’ 9 episodes.

“It’s a formidable part, not a small role or anything,” Azmi said.

In a career spanning 45 years, Azmi has worked with stalwarts as varied as Shyam Benegal, Manmohan Desai, Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta and Gurinder Chadha.

Of late, Azmi has been spending a lot of time with her young nephews, in whose eyes she’s suddenly become “hip” after signing up with Spielberg’s Halo, a move she sees as acquainting herself with an audience who may not have seen her earlier work. 

“When my nephew first found out, he went O-M-G. Now, that expression singularly restored my faith in my own celebrity,” Azmi laughed, mimicking the millennial expression of awestruck delight.

“I want to be relevant. I don’t want to be a relic in a museum. My nephew and other kids in the family have been helping me with understanding Halo, the video game,” she said.

Azmi said she’s also following a special diet to prepare for her role. 

While Spielberg’s association undoubtedly adds tremendous weight to this project, Halo isn’t Azmi’s first tryst with international television. The past year, the Masoom actor has been working on the British television series The Good Karma Hospital and Next of Kin.

“At this age and stage in my career, I can choose to do a film for whatever reason I feel fit. I’m not bound by anything. It’s a very liberating space. And you know the best part? I love flying out to shoot for a film,” Azmi said. “You go there without your paraphernalia or a security blanket. You are on your own. Just like a newbie. Staying in a different location and learning from actors and directors from a culture different than our own. It’s an altogether different experience.”

The actress said work keeps trickling in, but she’s very particular about who she chooses to work with. “A good subject or character isn’t enough. I am now particular about who is going to direct me. I need to share the director’s sensibilities.”

The actress, who hasn’t shied away from choosing parts that challenged social conventions, said she wants to continue to experiment and explore different avenues that have opened up for artists today.

“In 2005, I did an independent film called Waterborne which was to release only on Google Video. Many people cast apprehensions but I was like, are you silly? This is the future. For an artist to stay relevant, they need to adapt to changing times.”

Often heralded as the poster child of ’80s alternate cinema, Azmi said she never made a conscious choice to stick only to the independent scene.

“You must remember that I did Fakeera right after starting out with Ankur. Now, that’s as commercial as commercial gets. You can’t confine yourself to a type. An actor has to have a balance. I want to keep on acting. I want to act until every director in the world gets tired of me. I’ll go wherever they need me to. Even Timbuktu.”

After speculation that they were going to sign with a rival, the creators of Game Of Thrones have signed a development deal with Netflix.

David Benioff and DB Weiss have signed for an undisclosed amount with the streaming giant after reportedly being courted by Amazon and Disney.

The deal, rumoured to be worth nine figures, was confirmed on Twitter and will see the pair produce brand new films and TV series for Netflix.

Benioff and Weiss’s existing multi-film agreement with Disney for the Star Wars franchise will be exempt from the deal.

Whilst the figure the pair have signed on the dotted line for is being kept under wraps, it is rumoured to be in the region of $200 million (£165 million).

It mirrors similar deals the company has done with prolific TV producer Ryan Murphy and Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rimes, both of which are reportedly worth nine figures.

Speaking about the deal, Benioff and Weiss told Deadline: “We’ve had a beautiful run with HBO for more than a decade and we’re grateful to everyone there for always making us feel at home. Over the past few months we’ve spent many hours talking to [Netflix Content VP] Cindy Holland and [VP Original Series] Peter Friedlander, as well as [Chief Content Officer] Ted Sarandos and [Head of Original Films] Scott Stuber. 

“We remember the same shots from the same ’80s movies; we love the same books; we’re excited about the same storytelling possibilities. Netflix has built something astounding and unprecedented, and we’re honoured they invited us to join them.”

Ted Sarandos added: “We are thrilled to welcome master storytellers David Benioff and Dan Weiss to Netflix.”

Benioff and Weiss brought Game Of Thrones, based on George RR Martin’s series of fantasy novels, to the small screen with unprecedented success.

The show proved wildly popular throughout its eight-year run, which came to an end earlier this year.

Game Of Thrones has so far received 47 Emmy Awards, which recognise excellence in TV, and is expected to add to that total in September after its eighth and final season earned a record-breaking 32 nominations in July.

Benioff and Weiss are currently creating, writing and producing a Star Wars trilogy and are set to adapt prison break drama Dirty White Boys for Disney.

In July, the pair were due to take part in a ComicCon panel event, which had been teased as a “triumphant celebration” of Game Of Thrones.

But with just days to go, the creators dropped out – with no explanation of their reason for doing so. 

Unsustainable land use and greenhouse gas emissions are delivering a one-two punch to natural ecosystems that are key to the fight against global climate change. And without sweeping transformations to food production and land management, the world stands no chance of staving off catastrophic planetary warming. 

That’s according to a dire new United Nations assessment of the complex relationship between terrestrial landscapes and climate change. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, the leading U.N. body of researchers studying human-caused global warming, warns that human exploitation of land poses a serious threat to the food supply, natural resources and wildlife.

Climate change has already taken a toll on natural environments by fueling drought, extreme weather, wildfires, coastal erosion and the thawing of Arctic permafrost. And those risks are forecast to become “increasingly severe with increasing temperatures,” according to the findings. At the same time, humans have altered as much as 76% of the planet’s ice-free land. Agriculture, deforestation, urban development and other types of land use account for approximately 23% of total human greenhouse gas emissions and have left swaths of the global landscape degraded.

As the report details, land can be a major contributor to climate change. It can also be a tool for solving it. Earth’s natural landscapes continue to act as a buffer against warming, absorbing 29% of all carbon dioxide emissions, the report found. 

Humans and the global economy are getting “a free subsidy from nature,” Louis Verchot, a report author and land-use expert at the Colombia-based International Center for Tropical Agriculture, told reporters during a call Wednesday. But he stressed that it won’t last forever. 

“This additional gift from nature is limited,” he warned. “If we continue to degrade ecosystems, if we continue to convert natural ecosystems, to deforest, to destroy our soils, we’re going to lose this natural subsidy that’s protecting us, in part, from ourselves and from the damage we’re creating as we pump these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.” 

Every 30 seconds in the U.S., a natural area the size of a football field is lost to development, according to a separate study released this week and commissioned by the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

The 1,300-page IPCC report ― co-authored by more than 100 experts from 53 countries and released Thursday following a summit in Geneva, Switzerland ― is the latest in a series of scientific assessments over the last year that have made one thing strikingly clear: The world is rapidly running out of time to keep global temperatures from reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels ― the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. 

In October, the IPCC concluded that world governments must cut global emissions roughly in half by 2030 to keep the global mean temperature from hitting the 1.5 degree mark, at which point climate-related damages will cost an estimated $54 trillion. The planet has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius (just shy of 2 degrees Fahrenheit).

Still, President Donald Trump continues to downplay the threat and defend his 2017 decision to withdraw the U.S from the Paris Agreement. His administration has worked to gut major Obama-era policies that sought to rein in planet-warming emissions, revoked land protections and forged ahead with its fossil fuel-centric “energy dominance” agenda.

After decades of inaction, mitigating the threat requires more than transforming the global energy sector and phasing out fossil fuels. It demands slashing emissions from all areas of society, including land use and food production, the U.N. report finds. 

“There are a lot of actions that we can take now,” report author Pamela McElwee, an associate ecology professor at Rutgers University, said during Wednesday’s press call. “They’re available to us now. We don’t have to wait for some sort of new technological innovation. What some of these solutions do require is attention, financial support, enabling environments. They’re just not scaled up to the degree that they need to be right now.”

Alternatives for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions include preserving and restoring forests, peatlands and coastal wetlands; limiting land degradation through sustainable management; and implementing farming practices that boost organic carbon content in the soil. The report also highlights opportunities to reduce emissions and better protect land by cutting food waste ― up to 30% of all food produced is lost or wasted ― and moving toward plant-based diets. 

Other options would no doubt offset large amounts of CO₂ emissions but require additional land conversion and compete with global food production. For example, the report found that large-scale planting of new forests in treeless areas could potentially increase food prices by up to 80% and put 80 million to 300 million people at risk of undernourishment, according to McElwee. 

“That’s a very serious trade-off,” she said. “Let’s understand those trade-offs now and think about them, but also think about things that maybe would help us avoid those trade-offs.”

The report is yet another sobering wake-up call about the magnitude of the crisis and what it will take to solve it. 

In a statement Thursday, Jennifer Tabola, director of global climate strategy at The Nature Conservancy, called on communities, world leaders and corporations to take urgent action to combat the over-exploitation of the Earth. 

“As with climate change in general, we have a choice: Do we balance the needs of human development and nature, or do we sleepwalk into a future of failing farmlands, eroding soil, collapsing ecosystems and dwindling food resources?” she said. 

In addition to its climate assessment late last year, the U.N. released a report in May that found that up to 1 million species of land and marine animals are at risk of extinction due to human actions. And in June, Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, sounded the alarm that the world is headed for a “climate apartheid” that could push an additional 120 million people into poverty by 2030. 

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is ready to review its decision against India if New Delhi agreed to reconsider its actions on Kashmir, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday.

Qureshi’s remarks came a day after Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner as part of its decision to downgrade the diplomatic ties with India over what it called New Delhi’s “unilateral and illegal” move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan also announced that it will review all “bilateral arrangements” with India. 

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“Are they ready to review their decisions? If they do, we can also review our decisions. Review will be on both sides. That is what Simla (agreement) says,” Qureshi said. 

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AIR said Doval arrived in Kashmir on Tuesday to reach out to the local population in the Valley as a confidence-building measure. 

One dead since the abrogation of Article 370

On Wednesday, HuffPost India reported that a 17-year-old boy named Osaib Altaf had died in Srinagar’s Palpora area on Monday. The boy was among a group of boys who jumped into a river after being cornered by CRPF personnel on a bridge. While the others were rescued by labourers nearby, Altaf drowned.

PTI’s report on Wednesday quoted officials to say one person was killed in Noorbagh locality. Palpora is in Noorbagh. Officials told PTI that a group of youngsters had gathered in the area and were chased by CRPF personnel because of confusion over curfew. One of the youths jumped into the Jhelum river to escape the heavily-armed paramilitary forces but drowned. There was a protest in the locality but it ended after a cane charging in which six people were injured, they said.

An India Today report, published late Wednesday night, said the person who drowned was a “protestor”. Neither reports referred to Osaib Altaf by name.

500 political workers and leaders detained

Over 500 important political workers and leaders, including former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been detained in Jammu and Kashmir since the Centre decided to revoke provisions of Article 370 and divide the state to two union territories, officials told news agency PTI.

Reuters quoted a police officer as saying 300 political leaders have been detained. Two local leaders from the National Conference, a major regional party, also said that at least 100 politicians – including former state ministers and legislators – had been detained. They did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the information, Reuters said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation shortly and reports suggest that he is expected to talk about the government’s decision to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and split the state into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

The last time he addressed the nation was on 27 March during the Lok Sabha elections when he announced that India had demonstrated anti-satellite missile (A-Sat) capability by shooting down a live satellite.

The proposed address comes days before the prime minister’s customary address to the nation on Independence Day from the ramparts of Red Fort.

(With PTI inputs)

Among the many things unique to Bollywood, there’s one trope that’s peculiarly insipid. It involves the protagonist or any key character from a film going through an intense internal conflict which is visible only to the audience as if the character has forged a private relationship with people outside of the film’s universe.

For instance, there’d be celebrations around and the protagonist would appear to be woefully disoriented but nobody, absolutely nobody, notices their very visible pain, as they go about their business with utmost normalcy.

In Prashant Singh’s Jabariya Jodi, a romantic comedy starring Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra, this trope is generously employed, especially when the two characters are getting married to different people. Everything slows down and both, Malhotra and Chopra stare at a distance with a melancholic gaze, as oblivious (or emotionally cold?) family members enthusiastically apply haldi on their arms. 

Based on the bizarre real-life phenomenon where young men are abducted by the bride’s family and then forcefully married - a practice highly prevalent in the Indian state of Bihar - Jabariya Jodi is based on a solid premise but fails to exploit it to the hilt. There was room for terrific satire, given how absurd the entire exercise is, but Singh’s inept direction and Sanjeev Jha’s wobbly, laborious screenplay weigh the film down, making it a tedious, boring watch.

Childhood sweethearts Abhay (Sidharth Malhotra) and Babli (Parineeti Chopra) are separated after the latter moves cities but are later reunited in adult life. While it isn’t specified what Babli does, Abhay, son of an influential politician (Javed Jaffri) has grown up to be a local goon, who is hired by the families of young women for kidnapping potential grooms.

It’s love at gunpoint, quite literally.

When Abay and Babli meet, sparks fly. She wants marriage. He’s scared of commitment. Because? He has his father’s blood running in his veins. And father didn’t quite treat the wife well. “Baap ka khoon hai, par Maa ka doodh bhi hoga?” Babli retorts and the audience’s collective horror is reflected in Abhay’s mournful face. Yep, this is the film that has dialogues so melodramatic, they often feel parodical except that they are said in earnest without any hint of irony.

Abhay sabotages his own happiness because he feels he’s destined to disappoint his romantic partner, like his shady father. Babli owns up to her love for him but wants him to want her sincerely, not in a jabariya (forceful) way. So the rest of the film, which takes an eternity to finish, is about Abhay and Babli devising various kinks to emotionally torture each other before they resign into romantic submission while the audience slowly slips into a state of coma.

It’s hard to tell what the film really wants to be. It has several laugh-out-loud moments, one hilarious Bappi Lahiri joke and in many instances, the dialogues capture the delightfully absurd humour specific to Bihar’s milieu quite well, but the film can’t make up its mind on what it wants to be. As a result of this, Jabariya Jodi wrestles with itself and oscillates between genres, its tone shifting so frequently that one cannot sift the humour from seriousness, heartfelt emotions from satirical moments, melodrama from self-aware hilarity.

What’s even more annoying is the manner in which the film tries to forcefully insert progressive politics in random situations (a trans person is scolded when they say that they hope the couple has a baby boy). Parineeti Chopra’s character is shown having autonomy over her life decisions and in more than one instance, she also calls out patriarchy with swag but these elements appear superficial as if they’ve been incorporated to give her character spunk and not deliberate intent.

Because ultimately, the idea of marriage as a be all and end all is central to everyone in the film and multiple characters get married multiple times. For all her spunk, Babli still weighs her self-worth on how and when she can get married, whether out of love or submission. Sure it’s her choice but raised in a society as deeply patriarchal as Bihar, how real is that choice, given the absence of a career option, a vocation, or literally any other aspiration? On the other hand, Abhay’s ambition to be a politician is reinforced several times. For him, it’s kursi (a political post) over bistar (bed used as a metaphor for womanising)

When Abhay refuses to marry, she abducts him and gets him to marry her when he’s in a state of semi-unconsciousness, a deeply problematic device. Inverting the genders doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a messed up thing to do although the film recognises this failing towards the end but not compellingly enough.

If there’s anything that makes the film worth watching, it’s the supporting cast led by Sanjay Mishra who, as Babli’s endearing father, is appropriately hilarious. Chandan Roy Sanyal, as Malhotra’s sidekick, too is reliably good and so are the actors that complete the ensemble. However, it’s Aparshakti Khuranna, sadly becoming another Jimmy Shergill,  who is the most endearing in the film, his sincere performance revealing the character’s tenderness and emotional vulnerability. Seriously, Khuranna we need filmmakers to utilise his talents more robustly.

An ensemble of gifted supporting actors, however, cannot compensate for the dull, uninteresting performances by the lead cast. Malhotra looks bored, parroting his lines as if he’s still in the rehearsal room. He appears too polished and suave for a part that demands an earthy ruggedness. Wooden and devoid of depth, it’s hard to root for a character when you don’t feel what he’s feeling.

Chopra, the go-to Bollywood girl from spunksville, recycles traits and patterns seen in her past films such as ishaqzaade and Shuddh Desi Romance. Predictable and generic, there isn’t any moment in the film where the actress, who seems to have become a victim of her own image, surprises or delights.

Nothing, though, prepares one for the mind-numbing climax which turns into such a colossal cluster-mess it’s hard to think of a film that so rapidly went from being low-key boring to what-the-hell-is-going-on here. I’m convinced that the ending was improvised with characters doing as they pleased. In a scene where Malhotra’s Abhay is getting brutally bashed up, Aparshakti Khuranna just nods in disagreement. It’s likely that he got so fed up, he fled the sets never to return again as he isn’t seen later on. 

Bullets fly and swords are unleashed as crisp Manyawar kurtas are slowly ripped apart. Then, all of a sudden, fighting stops and scheming, patriarchal Dads turn into woke bros extolling the virtues of organic love and romantic commitment. Whattttt? 

Is this seriously not a parody? 

“Let’s make a social commentary but in a like, fun and entertaining way, what say?” the film’s producer probably said, delighted by their own idea.

Now, that’s an easy brief to give but a difficult one to live upto.

And that’s Jabariya Jodi’s problem. It’s neither a well-made social commentary, nor an entertaining romantic comedy.

What it is is a Jabariya headache to sit through.

Heavy rains have been battering Kerala for the past few days and had claimed eight lives on Thursday, bringing back the memories of the state’s worst floods in August last year.

The Kochi International airport on Friday suspended all operations till Sunday as the runway area in the airport is waterlogged due to flood, the airport authorities said.

The Central Water Commission has issued a warning that the state might witness another deluge this year. A flood warning has been issued for nine districts in the state. 

Airport closed till Sunday

“Kochi Airport closes operations till 1500 hrs of Sunday (11/08/2019),” a statement issued by the Airport said.

A Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) spokesman said the runway area of the airport is water logged due to the flood.

On Thursday night, the CIAL had announced the suspension of flight operations till 9 am on Friday as a precautionary measure in view of heavy rains lashing the region. Flights coming to the airport were diverted.

The operations were suspended as there was a rise in water level in Periyar river and a canal adjacent to the airport due to heavy rains.

The airport was rendered non-functional for a fortnight in August 2018 due to inundation.

It had suffered damage to infrastructure, including a 2.6 km long wall that collapsed after the Periyar river overflowed. The estimated loss was then put between Rs 220-250 crore.

Flood and rain forecast

“Extremely heavy rains have been witnessed in North Kerala in the districts of Kasargod, Kannur Kozhikode, Palakkad, Trichur, Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Due to this continuing rainfall, there is a possibility of above normal to severe floods in the above districts,” the Central Water Commission said on Thursday night.

“River Kuttaydi at Kuttayadi in Kozhikode District is flowing in Extreme Flood Situation and has crossed the HFL created last year.

Idukki Dam on river Periyar in Idukki District and Idamalayar Dam on river Idamalayar in Ernakulam districts are getting inflows. Since the dam levels at these reservoirs are very less, no immediate threat of flood due to dam releases will be seen. However, the situation has to be watched very closely by the project authorities,” CWC said.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said moderate to heavy rainfall with wind speed reaching 40 to 50 kmph is very likely to occur at one or two places in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts.

“High waves in the range of 3.2-3.7 meters are forecasted till 23:30 hours of Saturday along the coast of Kerala from Pozhiyoor to Kasargod. Fishermen are advised not to venture into these areas for the above mentioned period,” he tweeted.

Helpline numbers- 1070, 1077

State emergency operation centre: 9446 568222

State toll free number: 1070

District toll free number: 1077

State control room: 0471 2331639, 2333198

Nintendo’s super successful hybrid console is over two years old now. While many people were hoping for a Nintendo Switch Pro, Nintendo had other plans for the system including a new smaller, handheld-only model called the Nintendo Switch Lite that’s out in September and a new version of the standard Nintendo Switch that will slowly replace the system available today.

This new Nintendo Switch offers a big improvement for battery life but everything else is basically the same as the current Nintendo Switch.

If you’ve just bought a new Nintendo Switch or recently acquired an older model, there are a few things you absolutely need to buy to make sure you have a smooth experience with the system both at home and on the go. Note that every product listed above is from our own testing over the course of the last two years.

Five must-have Nintendo Switch accessories

1. RDS Industries Game Traveler Deluxe Travel Case for the Nintendo Switch

There are tons of Nintendo Switch cases and carry bags available from various retailers and brands across the world. The best kind of Nintendo Switch case is one that allows you to carry a few game cards and one that manages to protect your console from damage by dropping the case or while carrying it in your bag.

Our pick for the best Nintendo Switch case is the RDS Industries Game Traveler Deluxe Travel Case. It includes smaller thin cases for game cards and for a Micro SD card. We’ve been using different cosmetic variants of this since launch and if you don’t care about game art on your case’s exterior, the standard one pictured below is your best bet.

2. A high-capacity micro SD card for Nintendo Switch

While it is great to have 32GB of memory built into the system and not need to buy an additional card from the get go like the PS Vita, game sizes on the Nintendo Switch are ballooning out of control when it comes to third party bigger ports like Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and even Nintendo published releases like Fire Emblem Warriors with all DLC.

You will need a micro SD card even if you want to buy more physical games than digital ones. We’d recommend getting at least a 256GB micro SD card so you’re set for over a year without having to worry about deleting games.

The system transfer process isn’t painless and there is a good chance you have to redownload games when you upgrade your micro SD card so you may as well buy a good one (Samsung or SanDisk) right from the start.

3. Nintendo Switch Pro Controller

If you aren’t one of the portable only people who don’t care for docked play under a TV, this is likely not needed for you. Everyone else absolutely needs to get a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller for docked play.

The controller has a decent weight to it and superb battery life. It even charges from the same USB C cable you use to power your Switch while docked.

The only concern with the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller is in how a few people still run into d-pad issues or end up having analog stick drift issues after a year of use or so.

4. Wired headphones for Nintendo Switch

Sadly, the Nintendo Switch does not natively support Bluetooth headphones so you’re gonna need a good pair of wired headphones.

A pair of headphones is an essential for any portable device that you want to use on the go. If you want voice chat support for games that natively support it, make sure you get a pair with an included mic.

If you already have a pair of wired headphones you use on your phone, you can use the same on the Nintendo Switch.

NEW DELHI — The Election Commission of India has deployed teams of private contract workers, with a minimum work experience of just one year, to Maharashtra and Haryana, where they are conducting “first-level checks” on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for state assembly elections scheduled for later this year, HuffPost India has learnt.

These engineers told HuffPost India they had previously been tasked with critical aspects of the voting process — including setting EVMs and loading symbols into vote verification machines called VVPATS — in the 2019 general elections.

Opposition leaders in these states told HuffPost India they were unaware that first-level checks on EVMs had begun, and that these checks were being performed by engineers who were not full-time employees of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), two state-owned companies that manufacture and maintain EVMs for the Election Commission. 

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The Election Commission has never admitted to the use of contract workers, and the commission’s own guidelines require that representatives from all political parties be present when first level checks on EVMs are conducted. 

This HuffPost India report suggests that the nature of electronic voting makes it impossible for the Election Commission of India to maintain full control over all aspects of the voting process, despite its protestations to the contrary. The Commission’s submissions in Supreme Court indicate, at best, a fundamental ignorance about the nature of cybersecurity threats.

In an interview, Ashok Tanwar, Congress party leader from Haryana, stated that they did not receive any communication from the District Election Officers or Chief Election Officer. In Maharashtra too, the party did not receive any communication at its state headquarters, party leader Sanjay Nirupam said. Same was the case with NCP, MNS and CPI(M).

The Congress’s Sanjay Nirupam and the CPI(M)’s Nilotpal Basu told HuffPost India they were filing a complaint with the Election Commission in this regard.

Earlier this month, The Quint reported on ECIL’s use of  contract workers through a Mumbai-based labour contractor called T&M Services Consulting Private Limited. Sheyphali Sharan, a spokesperson for the Commission, told The Quint,“No private company was engaged to provide engineers by BEL & ECIL.”

This HuffPost India report includes new information on ECIL and BEL’s use of contract workers, and the manner of their recruitment and deployment, and the fact that these workers have begun work on the Maharashtra and Haryana elections without informing the opposition.

The presence of these contractors poses a significant security risk to the sanctity of India’s election process. Yet, rather than confront these risks and proactively address possible vulnerabilities, the Election Commission has chosen to retreat behind a veil of silence and obfuscation. 

BEL, ECIL, and the Election Commission did not respond to HuffPost India’s queries sent a week ago. This copy will be updated if and when they do.

Contract Work Force

In the summer of 2018, BEL announced 480 vacancies for “contract engineers to be posted across India on Contract basis for FLC of EVM & VVPATprojects for Elections of 2019 (Loksabha/State Assembly) for a period of ONE YEAR”, as per a recruitment notice reviewed by HuffPost India.

These engineers were meant to assist BEL’s regular employees in the mammoth task of conducting India’s general elections. BEL is one of two companies involved in the election. The other, as noted earlier, is ECIL.

The job, the BEL recruitment notice stated, involved “Field Testing /Operation / Repair / Maintenance and demonstration of electronic equipment”. The job would pay Rs 23,000 per month (all inclusive), and the eligibility criteria required that the candidate be less than 26 years of age on 1 June 2018, have a B.tech or Bachelor of Engineering degree and a minimum of one year of industrial experience.

Short-listed candidates were asked to provide a routine police verification certificate, from their local police station, in lieu of a background check. The Election Commission, a former Chief Election Commissioner told HuffPost India, does not perform its own background checks on these contract workers.

“Contract workers have long been used,” another former Chief Election Commissioner told HuffPost India. “But my understanding is that they only assist regular employees of BEL and ECIL, who do the sensitive work.”

However, in interviews, contract engineers for BEL told HuffPost India they were involved in all aspects of the election process including loading candidate names into EVMs and loading party symbols in VVPATS.

An unusual case from Uttarakhand indicates that contract employees involved in elections far outnumber the regular full-time workers, making it unlikely that the degree of supervision of these young, inexperienced engineers is as thorough as the Election Commission would like the public to believe.

The Uttarakhand Case

In 2017, a dispute over the outcome of the Uttarakhand state assembly election results sparked a surprising disclosure.

A man called Raju Binjola, said to be a close aide of Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Munna Singh Chauhan, posted a detailed booth wise “prediction” of the poll results of that particular constituency on his Facebook wall a week before the results were formally announced. Congress candidate Nav Prabhat, Binjola predicted, would get 32,572 votes. When the results were out, Nav Prabhat had 32,477 votes. 

“In some booths like Dhalipur, Bhimwala and Kata Pathar, the numbers predicted by Binjola were right on the mark for both BJP and Congress. At Dhalipur, for instance he had predicted 750 votes for Congress and the party got exactly that many,” the Times of India reported on April 27, 2017. “Similarly, in Badwa, he predicted 260 votes for BJP, and the party got 287. At Nawabgarh, the prediction for BJP was 1,200 votes and the party got 1235 votes.”

This startling coincidence prompted a flurry of legal action from losing candidates, who insisted that the poll had been rigged. The legal process that followed resulted in the disclosure — through the Right To Information — that ECIL had deployed 52 contract workers from Mumbai-based T&M Services Consulting Limited and only 8 of its own regular staff in the election. T&M Services declined to answer HuffPost India’s questions, explaining it had a non-disclosure agreement with its clients.

The case is still being heard in the Uttarakhand High Court, but marks a concrete instance of a contested result, and of contract engineers handling EVMs.

Security Threat

The Election Commission of India has long maintained that it retains full control over the sanctity of the voting process from start to finish.

On 29 March 2019, the Election Commission of India submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court stating there was “no credible or concrete proof to even remotely suggest that the EVMs of ECI were handled / accessed by private persons without getting the necessary security clearance from the Election Commission of India.”

In the same affidavit, the Commission stated, “The administrative safeguard put forth by ECI leaves nothing to chance, whether in manufacturing, storage, transportation, or during use in election thereby, ensuring that the EVMs of ECI are not tampered with in any manner or accessed by unauthorized persons.”

The Commission, understandably, appears to be focused on ensuring that no one political party can game EVMs. Yet, it appears not to have considered that possibility that the threat to the process could come from a more sophisticated adversary.

For instance, in the same affidavit before the Supreme Court, the Commission also submitted that “as per section 61A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the design specification of the ECI EVMs used in the elections in India is approved by the ECI (based on the advice of the Technical Expert Committee). The Election Commission of India has directed BEL and ECIL that the design of EVMs and VVPATs used by the ECI shall not be shared with anyone.” 

Yet these technical details have been published by the manufacturers themselves over a period of time.  When BEL applied for the patent of their EVM design in 2002, theysubmitted these details and drawings which have been online ever since. ECIL, for instance, has published diagrams of components of VVPAT machines on their website as part of a global tender for components of these machines.  

A tender, released in January 2018, lays out the internal cable harness used in VVPATs, while another tender, for the thermal printer that generates the VVPAT’s paper trail, includes details on EVM connectors, and also details on how the printer shall interact with the VVPAT. These might appear innocuous details but offer potential adversaries an opportunity to study these machines and think of how to infiltrate the system.

In interviews, contract engineers told HuffPost India their list of tasks included running checks, changing of broken parts like buttons in the Ballot Units, and loading party symbols into VVPAT machines, using customised laptop-like rigs provided by BEL and ECIL. This disclosure, coupled with the knowledge that the machines that decide the fate of Indian democracy are handled by short-term contract employees, barely four years out of engineering college, opens up frightening possibilities.

A young engineer, with barely a few months of training on the job, could through unwitting negligence expose this critical infrastructure to potential attack. 

Election Commission officials have long dismissed such scenarios by explaining how hacks would make it very hard to help one particular party or candidate win. But as the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US elections shows, a sophisticated adversary might simply want to sow confusion about the results, rather than help one particular party or candidate.   

HuffPost India has written to ECIL and BEL, and will update this copy when they respond.

There was no let-up from heavy rains in Kerala on Friday. The rain-related death toll in the state is at 12, while over 22,000 people have been moved to relief camps.

The Cochin International Airport has suspended flight operations till 3PM on Sunday.

Moderate to heavy rainfall with wind speed reaching 40-50 kmph is very likely to at one or two places in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. 

High waves in the range of 3.2-3.7 metres are forecast till 23:30 hours of Saturday along the coast of Kerala from Pozhiyoor to Kasargod. 

HELPLINES FOR KERALA

State emergency operation centre: 9446 568222

State toll-free number: 1070

District toll-free number: 1077

State control room: 0471 2331639, 2333198

HELPLINES FOR EVERY DISTRICT

Kasaragod: 9446601700, 0499-4257700

Kannur: 9446682300, 0497-2713266

Wayanad: 9446394126, 04936-204151

Kozhikode: 9446538900, 0495-2371002

Malappuram: 9383463212, 0483-2736320

Palakkad: 8301803282, 0491-2505309

Thrissur: 9447074424, 0487-2362424

Ernakulam (Kochi): 7902200400, 0484-2423513

Idukki: 9383463036, 0486-2233111

Kottayam: 9446562236, 0481-2304800

Alappuzha: 9495003640, 0477-2238630

Pathanamthitta: 8078808915, 0468-2322515

Kollam: 9447677800, 0474-2794002

Thiruvananthapuram: 9497711281, 0471-2730045

Nearly 44,000 people have been evacuated from flood-hit and rain-affected areas of Karnataka. Authorities have intensified the rescue and relief operations.

The flood-affected districts are mainly in the northern and coastal parts of the state, with Belagavi being the worst hit. Nearly 17,000 people are taking shelter in relief camps, PTI reported.

The NewsMinute has a list of train services affected.

HELPLINES

State emergency operations centre - 080-1070, 080-22340676

WhatsApp - 9008405955

Flood Control Room - 080-25573333

WhatsApp- 9513749080 

CONTROL ROOM NUMBERS

Belgavi - 0831-2407290

Vijayapura - 08352-221261

Bagalkote -08354-236240

Raichur - 08532-226383

Yadagiri - 08473-253771

Shivamogga - 08182-271101, 08182-267226

Dakshina Kannada - 0824 - 2442590

Udupi - 0820-2574802

Uttara Kannada - 08382-229857

Kodagu - 08272-221077

Hassan -08172-261111

Chikkamagaluru - 08262-238950

Nerkonda Paarvai begins with three young women in a cab, all of whom look either distracted or distraught, it’s too soon to tell. The cab they are in nearly crashes into a lorry coming towards them. Their driver shakes himself up at the last moment and they miss death by a whisker. One of the women asks the driver softly, “are you too sleepy, Anna?” Another one, Meera, played with melancholic intensity by Shraddha Srinath, gets off the back seat and moves to the front, next to the driver. “Else, he’ll bang us all into something,” she reasons.

At the end of the film — if you stay long enough to watch the credits — you’ll realise what happened just before the cab ride. In retrospect, this scene reveals so much more than we first realise. These are three regular women—simple, hard-working, vulnerable, independent, even somewhat invisible. When the ugliness of patriarchy and corrupt, misogynist law enforcement rears its head, Meera does exactly what she did in the cab: gets into the front seat, crosses her fingers in fear, and yet, lets herself be driven by her lawyer.

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The success of Nerkonda Paarvai is its unwavering focus on the issue at hand—“No means no”. While creating its characters, it shows us only as much as is relevant to the narrative (except for Ajith, but I’ll come to that later). It doesn’t waste time on inane flashbacks to establish their humanity. It doesn’t have long moral conversations to justify their actions. Even the few conversations between them reveal more about the world around than the women themselves.

For instance, Famitha (Abirami) rushes to her lover Zakir (Matthew Varghese) for support. He, however, blames her, albeit in a roundabout way. When she tells him that he’s being unempathetic, he says, “I can either be truthful or liberal”. Hardly ever do mainstream Tamil films present liberal hypocrisies so straight to your face.

In another scene, Meera is sitting forlornly in front of a mirror when her superior comes and asks, “you performed so well on stage, what happened to you after?” Could there possibly have been a better way to show how often women suck it up and perform their duties, irrespective of the violence they endure? 

Andrea has an excellent scene too. She is at a café with a friend who tells her that she’s ‘brave’. Almost immediately, she receives a threatening message. As if on reflex, this ‘brave’ woman runs for her life. Scene after scene, Nerkonda Paarvai focuses exclusively on the everyday realities of these women, without shying away from showing us the everyday cruelties of the men and women around them. In Nerkonda Paarvai, it is you who are on trial — your prejudices, your hypocrisies and your misogyny.

This truly amplifies in the second half. Turning completely into a courtroom drama, the film plays out in front of our eyes through the testimonies of various witnesses. Rangaraj Pandey, in the role of public prosecutor Sathyamoorthy, adequately irritates as the embodiment of patriarchy. Any women who has engaged in any conversation around rape and sexual assault would have met a Sathyamoorthy at some point. Bharath (Ajith) takes them on, sometimes with hard evidence, sometimes with scathing sarcasm, at other times delightfully combining both. 

The judge represents the genuine intent and assumed benevolence of the legal system. Even as Sathyamoorthy repeatedly alleges that women take advantage of this lenience, the judge stays unmoved or disinclined to offer an explanation. It is almost as if the judge is saying, “asked and answered”. Delhi Ganesh as Meera’s father has very little dialogue but his role says a lot about the helplessness of the common man.

Yet, for much of Ajith’s time on screen, we feel like we are in a completely different film — his Hulk-type episodes in the park and his struggle to pop his pills are jarring. There is a fight scene that feels like it will never end—thank god the degree of separation between the hero and villain was two, I found myself sighing. The backstory with Vidya Balan, who is first lighting lamps, then getting pregnant and eventually dead, does nothing to the film at all. And why was Bharat creepily staring at Meera in the first place? 

Yet, I found myself disapproving less and less as the film progressed. For the Tamil film industry that still tells the woman how to dress and what to say, Nerkonda Paarvai is no less than a revolutionary film. That it is a star vehicle with Ajith giving the might of his stardom to a film like this is indeed appreciable. Without Ajith, or a star like him, this Tamil film would hardly have got the visibility or support it got. To have that, if the compromise I have to make is to watch Ajith beat up some men in a garage, I’ll take that every single day and twice on Sunday.

Even if Ajith is driving the film, the destination is clearly where I want to go: No means no. 

Amid the shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir, the region’s administration said it had made arrangements to ensure “smooth and peaceful” Friday prayers, NDTV reported on Friday.

Phone services and internet were partly restored on Friday morning, NDTV said. Some restrictions would be eased to facilitate Friday prayers, Advisor to Jammu and Kashmir Governor told Indian Express.

Restrictions on gatherings have been in place through Section 144 in many parts of the erstwhile state since Monday, following the central government’s move to bifurcate it into two Union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Officials told PTI a curfew has not been declared.

This is the 5th day since lockdown began in the region. The communication blackout has involved the snapping of links for cellphones, the internet, landlines, and television.

Helplines

The government on Thursday set up two helplines for students and residents outside the state to contact their families in the region.

Modi speech

In an address to the nation on Thursday night — his first since the Centre’s move to abrogate Article 370 and split Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs — Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the situation will gradually return to normal and the government was making efforts to ensure that the people in the region have no difficulties in celebrating Eid which falls on Monday.

“We all want that in future J&K assembly elections take place, a new government is formed, new energetic youths become MLAs, ministers and chief minister. I assure people of J&K that with all honesty and in a transparent atmosphere, you will get an opportunity to elect your representatives soon,” he said.

J-K residents not convinced

Residents who spoke to news agency PTI said Centre’s move had been “extremely undemocratic”. Some even said the Centre only wanted to “win lands and not hearts of Kashmiris”.

“I think his speech was redundant, verbose and lacking substance, and linking scrapping of Article 370 with development of the state, was misplaced,” the Delhi-based Kashmiri journalist told PTI.

Shah Rukh Ali, 25, an MBA graduate, told PTI over the phone from Jammu: “The Centre should have taken the people or at least the mainstream politicians into confidence”.

“How can you put the J-K leaders under house arrest and, decide on fate of people of Jammu and Kashmir, without asking the local people. Is that a democracy,” he asked, adding, this complete communication cut off in the Valley needs to end.

World reacts to Kashmir crisis

Both the United Nations and the United States have asked India and Pakistan to exercise restraint in the sensitive region.

UN general secretary Antonio Guterres said he was “concerned over reports of restrictions on Indian-side of Kashmir,” and warned that such actions could “exacerbate the human rights situation in region.” Read more on international reactions here.

The 66th edition of the National Film Awards, considered to be one of the most prestigious award ceremonies in India, were announced today.

The award ceremony was scheduled for April but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that it’d announced after the Lok Sabha elections.

The awards were announced by filmmaker Rahul Rawai and other jury members at the Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi.

Here are the list of winners:

Best Hindi Film: Sriram Raghavan’s Andhadhun

Best Director: Aditya Dhar, Uri

Best Actor: Ayushmann Khuranna for Andhadhun and Vicky Kaushal for Uri

Best Actress: Keerthy Suresh for Mahanati (Telugu, Tamil)

Best Debut Director:  Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti of Naal (Marathi)

Best Popular Film (providing wholesome entertainment): Badhai Ho

Best Music Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Padmaavat

Best Singer: Arijit Singh, Bin Te Dil, Padmaavat

Best Singer (Female):  Bindhumalinif for Nathicharami song “Maayavi Manave”

Best Supporting Actress: Surekha Sikri, Badhai Ho

Best Supporting Actor: Swananda Kirkire, Chumbak (Marathi)

Best Choreography: Kruti Mahesh Midya and Jyoti D Tommar for Padmaavat song “Ghoomar”

Best Dialogue: Tarikh (Bengali)

Best Adapted Screenplay Andhadhun.

Best Original Screenplay Chi La Sow.

Best Special Effects Telugu film ‘Awe’ and Kannada film ‘KGF’

Best Production Design: Malayalam film Kammara Sambhavam.

Best Costume Designer: Telugu film Mahanati

Best Make-up Artist: Ranjith for the film AWE

Best Film on Social Issues: R Balki’s Padman

Best Background Score: Uri

Best Assamese Film: Bulbul Can Sing

Best Punjabi Film: Harjeeta

Best Rajasthani Film: Turtle

Best Gujarati Film: Reva 

Best Tamil Film: Baaram

Best Malayalam Film:

Best Telugu Film: Sundani

Best Urdu Film: Hamid

Best Marathi Film: Bhonga 

Most Film Friendly State: Uttarakhand

The day after the Indian government legislated the state of Jammu and Kashmir out of existence, Shahnaz Qayoom’s colleagues at his office in Delhi walked up to him with a box of sweets.

“Sir,” Qayoom recalled them saying, “Aapko zindagi mil gayee.” [You have been given life.]

“I don’t know what to do. It’s my workplace,” Qayoom said in an interview with HuffPost India.  “I don’t want to get into an argument. I don’t want to be called an anti-national.”

“I walk away. I make a sad face. I say that I’m worried about my parents,” he said.

The last time that Qayoom spoke to his elderly parents was on Sunday night. His father, who suffered a heart attack and then a brain stroke last month, had recently returned to Srinagar after getting treated in Delhi.

Now with most phone lines in Kashmir Valley severed, and the internet blocked, Qayoom is trying to get his parents to Delhi.  His work colleague, another Kashmiri, who has not been able to reach his wife and his seven-month-old baby, has taken a flight to Srinagar. “We are completely distraught. It’s traumatic,” he said. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has claimed that its decision to nullify Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and bifurcate the state into two union territories, has widespread support in the Valley. 

Yet, as Qayoom’s experience suggests, the move has alienated even so-called mainstream Kashmiris settled in mainland India.

For Qayoom, the total exclusion of Kashmiris from the decision-making process, and the undisguised excitement of his non-Kashmiri office colleagues has made clear that the Modi government’s decision is not meant for Kashmiris, but for whipping up jingoism across the country.

“If this is about Kashmir, then how does it make a difference?” he said. “I thought we are already an integral part of India?”

Voting for the first time 

Qayoom moved to Delhi in 2003 and, over the past 16 years, has found a way to balance growing up with the death and violence that had pervaded Kashmir in the nineties, with the excitement of a new beginning in the mainland, and the banality of the day-to-day. 

Time, however, cannot dull the memories of the afternoon that he was shot at by Indian security personnel while heading to his tuition class in Srinagar. He was 11-years-old. The bullet, which he believes was meant for his head, hit his ring finger. His uncle, he said, pushed him out of the way in the nick of time. He was, however, left with a finger without a joint. 

And yet, over the years, Qayoom became comfortable identifying as an Indian. He did not let go of the past, but as he did well professionally, the frenetic corporate world and humdrum of family life became his immediate reality. 

In 2013, Qayoom is the first person in his family to have ever voted. 

His grandfather and father, who were prominent journalists in Kashmir, never voted.

Qayoom can recall the day that he decided to vote. It was after a chance encounter with Balram Tanwar, the MLA from Chattarpur, who, he recalled, was all smiles on learning that he was Kashmiri. 

When it came to the issue at hand — extending the water pipeline for it to reach Qayoom’s neighborhood — Tanwar listened attentively and got it done. 

Qayoom was so pleased with his interaction with Tanwar that he broke with his family tradition and decided to vote for the first time in the 2013 Delhi Assembly election. 

“I felt that I should vote because I felt part of a community. I had issues, local issues. This voting was not about Kashmir, it was about my needs in Delhi,” he said. He chose AAP because of its crusade against corruption. 

Tanwar, a Congress Party leader, lost the 2013 Assembly election to the BJP candidate in Chattarpur. In 2015, AAP won the constituency.

Qayoom voted for AAP in 2013 and 2015 Assembly elections, and the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He was traveling during the 2019 Lok Sabha or he would have voted for AAP. 

Recalling his meeting with Tanwar, he said, “I really liked him as an individual and he did great work for his constituency, but it was the anti-corruption movement that captured my imagination at the time. I was really moved by it.” 

When Delhi’s Chief Minister, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal, tweeted in support of the government’s move to nullify Article 370, Qayoom felt betrayed.

“I am really disappointed with Kejriwal. I don’t understand why? Is this about the election? To earn some brownie points? Those voters are already with the BJP. This is not going to help,” said Qayoom.

If he did not feel completely betrayed at this point,  Qayoom would have voted for AAP in 2020, but this Kashmiri has decided that he no longer wants to participate in Indian democracy. 

“I thought of myself as Indian and then Kashmiri, but not anymore. Not after today. Not after that tweet,” he said.

‘My 100% focus is to leave India’ 

If even AAP — a party that has premised its political existence on the demand for full statehood for Delhi — is supporting the BJP, has made clear to Qayoom that Kashmiris can expect little from the Indian state.

“Today, Kashmir is changed with brute force, while Kashmiris are caged and left without a voice,” Qayoom said. “Tomorrow, our voting rights could be taken away, and we won’t be able to do anything about it.”

The seeming political consensus around this events of this week suggests the BJP has effectively hijacked the political conversation, making it hard for any political party to oppose them without being tagged “anti-national” — or worse — “anti-Hindu.” 

It’s not the BJP that has disappointed Qayoom, but the other political parties that barely resisted revoking J&K’s special status, with no participation from Kashmiris themselves. 

“I don’t blame Modi or Shah for this.  They never guaranteed Article 370. They have an ideologue to follow. Shyama  Prasad Mukherjee. He said, ‘Ek Vidhi, Ek Samvidhaan.’ But what about the Congress? What about AAP? The bigwigs of Indian politics. We had a lot of hopes from them. Their failures have really cost us.”

Qayoom doesn’t always see eye to eye with politicians like former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, but he recognizes them to be India’s flag bearers in Kashmir.

“If they can be arrested, and locked away for days without any explanation, then what about ordinary Kashmiris,” he said.

 Actor Anupam Kher’s tweet, he said, gave him goosebumps. 

It’s not only the ruthless manner in which J&K’s special status was revoked that bothers Qayoom. For a while now, the 40-year-old father of two children has been fretting over hate crime against Muslims in BJP-run India. 

The lynchings of Muslims in India, and the sudden blow against Article 370 in Kashmir, broke the camel’s back. 

“I have lost faith in the democratic system. I don’t want to vote for anyone. My 100% focus is to leave India,” he said. I will not let my children grow up here. I have no second thoughts about it.”

A red alert has been issued by the IMD for seven districts in Kerala for Saturday as heavy rains continue across the state.

Districts on red alert on 10 August are Ernakulam, Idukki, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur, meaning a forecast of very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall.

Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kasargode have been issued an orange alert, signifying forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall.