DailyOh! What Disha Ravi wrote to Greta Thunberg on WhatsApp, to the 'return' of Covid

People have been demanding an edit option from Twitter, which Twitter has said it won’t give. Twitter has not had to say it won’t give the delete option either because people think they have it. But is there anything that you can really delete from Twitter? Ask Greta Thunberg that. Greta tweeted and deleted a tweet on February 3 that led to the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi on February 13. On February 15, activists Nikita Jacob and Shantanu also face arrest over Greta’s tweet which tweeted a toolkit designed to amplify farmers’ voice by adding the voices of whoever “wants to help”.

Disha Ravi, the Delhi Police say, shared the toolkit with Greta, who then shared it with the world. Are you wondering why Greta hasn’t spoken out yet over the arrests? Well, it turns out Ravi told her not to. Where has this information turned out from? The same place from where all information was tumbling out in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and the associated drugs case — WhatsApp. WhatsApp chat details accessed by India Today show that Ravi asked Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to “not say anything at all for a while” because their “names were on it”. A message from Ravi to Greta says, “Can we just not say anything at all for a while? I am gonna talk to lawyers. I am sorry but our names are on it. We can literally get UAPA against us. (sic)”

The police, on their part, say Ravi collaborated with pro-Khalistani group Poetic Justice Foundation to spread disaffection against the Indian State apart from being the editor of the toolkit.

Ravi has been remanded to five-day police custody, while non-bailable warrants have been issued against Nikita Jacob and Shantanu in the same toolkit case. You know the case. But what is a toolkit?

Toolkit, the Word Of The Day, is a set of tools, especially one kept in a bag or box and used for a particular purpose. You can safely say your pencil box was a toolkit too. That’s not very different from your makeup kit or your shaving kit. Oxford dictionary sums up toolkit as ‘the things that you need in order to achieve something’. It doesn't talk about the bag. But what is a toolkit wihtout a kit? Just tools. What Greta’s toolkit, which the police claim was actually Ravi’s kit, had was all that was needed to amplify the voice of those protesting against the farm laws like which hashtag to use for tweets and who to tag in the tweet. That protest is still on without a break since November and Haryana Congress leader Vidya Rani Danoda today was captured saying the protest should be kept on even if it by plying the protesters with cash and booze. Why should we assume protesting farmers do not need cash or booze? Farmers are not protesting in the times of notebandi and definitely not in Gujarat, or Bihar.  

#WATCH: Haryana Congress leader Vidya Rani says, "...We'll take out a 'padyatra' in Jind. It'll give new direction & strength to Congress. It'll be reborn. Agitation has risen again as farmers are firm. Be it money, vegetables, liquor-we can contribute to them as we like.."(14.2) pic.twitter.com/FwX7aGNHo9

— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2021

But guess who is making a comeback? Coronavirus. In the 24 hours preceding today morning, Maharashtra reported over 4,000 cases and 40 deaths. The latest high-profile body the virus has held hostage is in Gujarat. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who fainted yesterday in the middle of a speech, was today admitted to hospital and tested positive for the virus.

So, we are not going to repeat that you got to keep the mask firmly on and hands properly washed and sanitised, because why should we tell you what you already know? You can, of course, tell this to people around who you see are not following Covid protocols.

Here is something else you can tell them. From midnight tonight, FASTag will become mandatory and all lanes at toll plazas on national highways will be made FASTag lanes. All vehicles with four wheels that carry passengers and all vehicles with at least four wheels that carry goods got to have the tag. Not having the tag would mean you will pay double the applicable fee. Who wants to pay double the fee when no one wants to pay the fee?

The government says FASTag will make your movement faster because there will be no stopping for paying. When there will be no unnecessary stopping, less fuel will be wasted. With fuel at its current price, wastage is out of the question along with unnecessary drives, including long drives. In Mumbai, petrol price now stands at Rs 95.46 while diesel is retailing at Rs 86.34. In Delhi, petrol is selling at Rs 88.99, while diesel prices stand at Rs 79.35. You may prefer to sit down instead.

If you are sitting idle, we have a suggestion. You can open your phone and read poems from Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. Today happens to be the poetess’s death anniversary. We can help with a specific suggestion - Khoob Ladi Mardani - Jhansi Wali Raani by Subhadra Kumar Chauhan in Shubha Mudgal’s melodious voice.

The poem talks about the bravery exhibited by Rani Laxmi Bai, but did you know how brave Subhadra herself was? Let us tell you. Subhadra received formal education only till class 9. She however did not let the lack of formal education hold her back from penning poetry. When she was 16, Subhadra married Thakur Lakshman Singh from Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa. Lakshman was a freedom fighter. With four children to take care of, Subhadra too joined the freedom fight.

There was a time when both Lakshman and Subhadra had to go to jail. Now, there was not much social security then and the couple had a physically challenged baby. Subhadra was put in jail along with the child. Human rights did not exist out of jail during the British era so there was no way the rights could have found a way inside the jails. Subhadra continued to take care of the child. And even with the child in jail, she fought for the rights of other inmates. Once a certain category of prisoners was denied food in jail and Subhadra rushed to provide them food. She knew this would end up making her life even more difficult. The jail authorities put her and her daughter Mamta under more stringent conditions, but then khoob ladi mardani even though she was not Jhansi ki rani.

Ravichandran Ashwin turned out to be Chennai ka raja with his 106 helping India to put up a total of 482 ahead of England on the fourth day of the second match in the four-match Test series. At stumps today, England were three wickets down for 53 runs. If England want to save the match - they have no reason not to - they have to survive the full day tomorrow. Experts say it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' India will win the match. Tomorrow is our answer. 

From Chennai, let’s quickly take you to Mumbai where the Bombay High Court has ruled that the case filed by actor Rhea Chakraborty against late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister Priyanka Singh holds. The same case, the court said, doesn’t hold against the other sister Mitu Singh. What is the case? Let’s jog your memory through it because Rhea Chakraborty has already hit the gym. The case is that of allegedly providing Sushant with medication on a false prescription.

This case is far from over and won’t be over even after the investigating agencies tell us how Sushant died because the drug cases related to this case are still not shut.

You don’t care about the case or the related cases? Good. Care for a good book? Our recommendation is Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid.

That will be all today but there will be more tomorrow because tomorrow is another day.

See you another day.

Stay safe.

Now get the all-new DailyOh in your mailbox. Click here to subscribe. 

Also read: Tamil Nadu's great poll opera