| | | Good morning! | | One  “Head and heart, Australia’s performance for a sixth World Cup title had both. They played a perfect match on the biggest night”. So wrote Rahul Bhattacharya in Hindustan Times the morning after that heartbreak – it definitely broke mine, I don’t know about you – and that pretty much sums it up. . Without taking anything away from India – after all, for 10 matches they displayed the kind of overwhelming dominance that one associates with great teams, and this was one – they seemed strangely subdued on the day when it mattered most. Perhaps it was the conditions. Perhaps it was the weight of expectations. Or perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be. What was inexplicable, though, was the pitch on which the final was played. India had among the best bowling attacks in the tournament (and perhaps the best fast bowling attack); its batters have always loved it when the ball comes on to the bat. Yet, the pitch produced by the final was a slow one – unsuited to both Indian batters and bowlers. Worse, it got better as evening turned to night. HT’s national sports editor Ashish Magotra believes India’s pitch tactic “backfired”.  | | Two It is said that sometimes, people in India tend to be more aware of happenings in Gaza than they are of something happening in the country’s own North-East. In early November, Myanmarese rebels, including the Chin National Army, the People’s Democratic Force, and the Chinland Defence Force took control of key military posts in the country’s border with India. The Junta responded with air strikes causing thousands to flee to India – to Mizoram, already home to tens of thousands of refugees from the neighbour, and thousands of refugees fleeing the ethnic conflict in another northeastern state Manipur.
As HT’s Prawesh Lama, among the first reporters to visit the refugee camps wrote, “Myanmar nationals are allowed to cross the 496.5km porous border with Mizoram, and travel up to 16km within the state under the Free Movement Regime. Most people living in the border villages in Myanmar are from Kuki-Chin-Zo tribes, and share ethnic ties with residents on the Indian side of the border”. The refugees from Myanmar are largely Chins; those from Manipur, Kukis. Lama also travelled into Myanmar, to two of the bombed villages.
“While the residents of these two villages, which together have around 1,000 houses, are unsure whether to return to their homes or stay on in camps in India, militants from CNA and PDF are patrolling the villages. The rebel cadres are also manning the porous border on the Myanmar side. The cadres refused to interact with this reporter, but claimed that the Myanmar Army is no longer is no longer in control of this western part of the country,” he reported. India’s North-East is a complex area, with actions in one state having ripple effects in other states in the region, and even across the border. That’s something New Delhi would do well to remember when it thinks of Manipur. | | Three  Rajasthan, definitely not as far away from the national mainstream as Manipur, goes to the polls today (Saturday, November 25). HT’s data team has a quick summary of what’s at stake. My colleagues have looked at what is essentially a bipolar contest between the BJP and the Congress through several interesting filters (apart from the usual ones such as caste and faith).
In one of these, HT’s National Editor Chetan Chauhan reported on the Aravallis, one of the world’s oldest mountain ranges. Almost 80% of the Aravallis are in Rajasthan, and, directly and indirectly, the range impacts life (and work) in 80-90 assembly constituencies in the state. The despoilation of the Aravallis is a big issue among voters in some of these constituencies (“Illegal mining has caused environmental degradation, health issues, and social unrest,” Chetan writes), and while political parties make all the right noises when they are in the Opposition, they rarely deviate from the established government (doesn’t matter which government) playbook in their treatment of the environment. | | Four If reports of a recent wave of pneumonia among children in China have made the headlines, it is because of Beijing’s opacity in sharing information on Covid-19 (the issue was made worse by WHO’s mishandling of the affair). This time, no one was taking any chances. And so, WHO made a rare public request for information from China, seeking details on “clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in northern China” under the International Health Regulations or IHR, an agreement to which many countries, including China, are signatories. Beijing shared the information on Thursday, confirming that there has been a spike in pneumonia cases among children, something it attributes to the lifting of Covid restrictions which kept numbers low over the past few years. There does not appear to be anything unusual about the wave of infections (so far), but it’s good to know that there have been some learnings from Covid-19 (and Beijing and WHO’s behaviour in the early days, before it was declared a pandemic). | | Five Earlier this week, the Prime Minister participated in the 525th birth anniversary celebrations of Mirabai, a 16th century royal from a Rajasthani Rajput family who dedicated her life to the worship of Krishna. Mirabai or Meerabai is widely revered as a mystic saint, especially in North India. I heard of Meerabai long before I read about her; or, more accurately, I heard Meera bhajans, songs in worship of Krishna that she composed, long before I read about her life. And so, on Friday, I pulled out an old LP, Meera Bhajans by MS Subbulakshmi, and listened to it. It’s a 1965 release, and has seen better days, but I guess I belong to a generation (and a place) where MS’ voice will always mean bhakti. | | | | Were you forwarded this email? Did you stumble upon it online? Sign up here. | | | | | | Get the Hindustan Times app and read premium stories | | | | | | View in Browser | Privacy Policy | Contact us You received this email because you signed up for HT Newsletters or because it is included in your subscription. Copyright © HT Digital Streams. All Rights Reserved | | | | |
