DailyOh! India-China disengage at Pangong Tso, to the time China spied on India

Akhil Sibal is the son of Congress leader Kapil Sibal. You may not have known that, but now you know whose son he is because you know whose lawyer he is. Akhil Sibal is representing toolkit case accused — Disha Ravi.

Many are now asking how Disha, who was sent to three days' judicial custody today, can afford Akhil’s fees without knowing if Akhil is charging any. We can all afford that which we are not being charged for. Is Akhil providing pro bono assistance to Disha? That is between the lawyer and the client. We are neither, so it doesn’t matter to us. The country’s Home Minister Amit Shah has said that even Disha’s age and gender do not matter in ascertaining her culpability. What matters, according to Shah, are the ‘merits’ of the investigation.

Talking of gender, have you heard of Shabnam? Shabnam’s name earned such disrepute in Amroha’s Bawankhedi that people in Bawankhedi have stopped naming their daughters Shabnam.

But her name could enter history because she could well be the first woman to be hanged in India. Her crime? Axing seven members of her family, including her 10-month-old nephew, to death, along with her lover Salim, in 2008. Their crime? The family did not approve of Sabnam’s relationship with Salim. Preparations are on in Mathura jail — the only jail in the country with an execution room for women — to hang her. Shabnam is being punished since she was found culpable. Disha will be punished if found culpable. The courts will do the culpability finding part. We will get to finding the origin of the word because culpable is our Word Of The Day.

Culpable comes from the Latin word culpare which meant ‘to blame’. Culpare, in turn, came from culpa, which meant ‘fault or blame’. A culpable person is the one who, according to the Oxford dictionary, is responsible and deserving of blame for having done something wrong. So you may have done something wrong, but not wrong enough to deserve punishment. In that case, you are just at fault, but not culpable. That’s a fine line separation, but a separation nonetheless.

Mumbaikars, according to Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, have crossed the line by not following Covid protocols. But a lockdown, as a punishment is not on the cards for now, said BMC. What’s on the cards is a strict implementation of guidelines and rules. 'Now' doesn't translate into 'never'. To ensure your area, or city, or country is not put under lockdown again, ensure the mask is on and social distance is being maintained.

Workers of BJP and Congress in Gujarat’s Vadodara attacked each other with sticks. We are not sure if the aim of using sticks was social distancing or causing grievous blows.

Talking of blows, let us tell you that China has admitted to the death of four of its soldiers due to blows received from Indian soldiers in the Galwan clash in June 2020. The Global Times, which is basically the local government’s mouthpiece, admitted that of the five PLA soldiers "honoured for their sacrifice" by China, four were killed in 2020’s Galwan Valley clash with the Indian Army. A Russian news agency had said that actually 45 of China’s soldiers were killed in the clash, while India, which lost 20 of its soldiers, had put the Chinese toll at 40.

We are in no body-counting contest with China because China, for one, is an expert at hiding its bodies. But did you know that the Chinese forces were spying on India much before they attacked in 1962? The revelation was made by Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner in his book China's India War. During the weeks of fighting in this western sector of Ladakh, “it became obvious that the Chinese knew exactly where the Indians were, how many there were at each position, and what kind of weaponry they had”. Lintner says that China began preparing for the war in 1959 itself. In Aksai Chin, the author says, China had been sending small teams of surveyors to take stock of the ground situation. Now, the region is vast and barren. It is impossible to fence it. At that time India did not suspect China would need fencing, so India didn’t even put its troops in strategic locations to keep an eye. But China was eyeing the Indian territory all this while. We will leave the past in the past, taking lessons for the future. With the past and the future sorted, let’s get back to the present. India and China have completed the disengagement process in Pangong Tso. Talks between the two militaries would begin on Saturday for the next round of disengagement.

What are you doing this Saturday? Treat yourself to some tasty Poha Cutlet because weekends allow indulgence. Says who? Says the one indulging and the one wanting to indulge. We will help with the recipe if you do not know how to make Poha Cutlets out of your humble Poha.

Ikea is making grand malls out of its not-so-humble stores. How grand? The furniture giant’s proposed mall in Noida is set to be built at a cost of Rs 55,00,00,00,000. Mall or mahal? Mall like a mahal. To build the mall, Ikea has bought a 48,000-square-metre plot in Noida.

We would leave you imagining what that mall would look like for the day or maybe until you get to visit this mall of a mahal. That is not happening till the mall is built. For now, only the land has been bought.

Do your things over the weekend.

We will see you when the next week begins on Monday.

Stay safe.

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Also read: Have we knocked out Covid?