DailyOh! Modi chokes on tears in RS, to Kapoor clan bids goodbye to Rajiv Kapoor

Tears met tears and it all ended in smiles as Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Rajya Sabha tenure came to end today. Members gave way to laughter through the smiles as Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale tried his hands at poetry, but failed to go beyond rhyming a few words. Case in point: Aapka naam hai Ghulam isliye aapko mai karta hun salaam. Athawale should totally fire the poet in him, who had also once tried to establish direct communication with coronavirus telling it in no uncertain terms: “Go corona, go.”

Watch my remarks in the Rajya Sabha. https://t.co/Cte2AR0UVs

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 9, 2021

But let’s get back to Rajya Sabha where Prime Minister Narendra Modi struggled to complete his sentences fighting tears, sipping water and gesturing with salutes towards Azad. Modi told the House that Azad wasn’t just concerned about his party, but also the country and the House. Azad in his response said he learnt how to run the House from BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee. More on Azad’s response later. More on Modi’s tears for now.

So, Modi got emotional thinking about 2006 when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and Azad was Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. What happened in 2006? A group of tourists from Modi’s Gujarat came under attack in Azad’s J&K on May 25 at around 6 pm when terrorists hurled a grenade at a bus carrying tourists. Four people died in the attack, including an eight-year-old. Many others were injured.

Modi apparently learnt about the incident first from Azad, who called Modi to assure all help while choking on tears. Modi told the House that Azad was in touch with him till late in the night that day and Pranab Mukherjee, who was then Defence Minister, made special arrangements for the bodies to be taken back to Gujarat on Modi’s request.

When everybody had spoken on his farewell, Azad got to speaking. He said after so much has been said about him, he doesn’t know what to say but went on to say that he is a proud Hindustani Muslim and all Muslims of India should be proud of being Hindustani Muslims. He also said the majority community too needs to take a step ahead. Members from across party lines tapped their desks, which is their way of saying they agree. Now that everyone agreed on something, it is time to move to other things.

In other things, India lost to England in the first Test of the four-Test series by 227 runs. Caption Virat Kohli blamed body language and intensity (the lack of it) for the loss, while promising to bounce back in the series. The next opportunity for bounce back will come on February 13. There is also an opportunity for fans to watch the match live at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium with a limited-in-person attendance. The best way to watch a match, however, remains the TV, which has been joined by laptops and phones.

Team India’s loss left Indians sad and the demise of Rajiv Kapoor left Kapoor clan in grief. Rajiv Kapoor, you know, was the youngest son of Raj Kapoor. The Ram Teri Ganga Maili actor died at 58 after a heart attack. Niece Kareena Kapoor said her goodbye by posting a photo of uncle Rajiv with his father Raj Kapoor and brothers Randhir and Rishi on Instagram. Family members, including Ranbir and Kareena Kapoor, then gathered to share their grief.

Many people were saved from dying in Florida’s Oldsmar after a hacker tried to poison the city’s water supply. The hacker reportedly gained access to the water treatment system of Oldsmar and attempted to increase the levels of sodium hydroxide, what we call more commonly as lye, in the city’s water. The hacker attempted the poisoning on Friday but an operator noticed the intrusion as the hacker adjusted the level of lye to over 100 times its normal levels, levels at which lye becomes poison. The operator readjusted the level and Oldsmar was saved.

This story of a failed attempt at poisoning reminded us of another story of poisoning that had several successful bids in it. This is the story of Hieronyma Spara. Spara was a 17th-century Roman entrepreneur who ran a school that taught wealthy young wives. What did it teach? How to bump off wealthy husbands and become rich widows. The weapon of choice was arsenic. It helped eliminate all raaste ka kantas without leaving a trace behind. You see arsenic is effective as poison in very low amounts. It could be given to infant rivals, who were to emerge as claimants of thrones. Remember kings and rulers had more than one wife and the practice of eliminating ‘competition’ by way of poisoning was common.

But what is poison? Poison, the Word Of The Day, comes from Latin word potion, which came from potare and meant ‘to drink’. When we think of poison, we generally imagine a substance in liquid form but then poison could be gaseous or solid too. It is basically a substance that through its chemical action usually kills immediately or slowly. The same substance could also be a savior of life. Fowler's solution, containing arsenic, was used for cancer treatment. So, how you use what you use decides how it acts. If you do not know how to use it, do not use it.

Indian Army is using desi hounds to sniff out coronavirus cases. Two dogs were used by the army to sniff 3,800 samples of which 22 ‘smelt’ positive. Can sniffing a coronavirus sample without mask give the dogs an infection? Experts say no.

Dogs have learnt to sniff out coronavirus, but humans haven’t yet learnt to accept inter-caste and inter-faith marriages. Is there any connection? No. But the Supreme Court has told the society that it is high time society learnt accept 'connections' between people of different castes and different religions. Who should learn first? Police officers. The court said "Educated young boys and girls are increasingly choosing their life partner on their own." The court said that "might be viewed as a deviation by the society and parents, but the police authorities are duty bound to keep such couples out of harm's way if there is no violation of the law".

Talking of the police, Deep Sidhu accused in the January 26 Red Fort violence has been arrested by Delhi Police from Haryana’s Karnal. Sidhu is accused of instigating violence and was present at Red Fort when a religious flag was hoisted at the monument. How was Sidhu posting all the videos online? Apparently through a friend, who is an actor and based in California. He made the videos and sent it to her. She uploaded them on his account.

#WATCH| Delhi Police Special Cell arrests Deep Sidhu, an accused in 26th Jan violence in Delhi pic.twitter.com/cb6tN5eR1u

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2021

Sidhu has finally been found but the hunt for about 35 people stuck in a Tapovan tunnel after Sunday’s flood that hit Chamoli is on.

With a hope that they are found alive, we will take your leave for the day.

See you tomorrow.

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