About 2m Britons have paused payments in the coronavirus crisis. Readers share their concerns

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Almost one in five UK mortgage holders have now been granted a payment holiday, it was estimated this week – but people’s experiences of the process have been very different. Some struggled to get a holiday while others say it was almost too easy. And while for some it will add just a few pounds to their monthly mortgage bill, others say their outlay will rise by a lot more.

The Guardian asked readers who had applied for a mortgage payment holiday, or help with other debts, how they got on. Almost 200 people contacted us to tell us their stories.

It is among the most international of sports, but countries have had to look inwardly in order to restart the action

On Thursday afternoon in Minsk, elite international athletes returned to competition. Two Belarusians kicked tennis off as the world No 11, Aryna Sabalenka, and the No 50, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, took to the court. Even in Belarus, where the country has relentlessly carried on as much of the world around it has come to a halt, the scene underlined the new normal.

The pair humbled themselves to picking up their own balls and their stage was a small indoor hard court lined with one linesman per side and a handful of spectators. After Sabalenka sealed the victory, the two friends were not allowed to embrace. They tapped the other’s racquet and Sabalenka blew a kiss. They laughed.

The eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano in 2018 was caused by heavy rains – suggesting that extreme weather from climate change could lead to more eruptions

A fresh look at the world’s oldest religious texts suggests ancient Egyptians saw the sky as a water-filled iron container from which chunks fell to Earth as meteorites

Many ancient monuments are claimed to be aligned to celestial phenomena, but we now have the first statistical evidence this is the case for the Egyptian pyramids

Fortunately, I haven’t been made to drink hemlock yet, but I did get this nice message. Over a decade ago, I found your blog. I was an English major at the time, but I found the debate over science more intriguing and changed my major to biology. The course work was so fun, I sailed […]

U.S. and U.K. intel agencies are reviewing the private report, but intel analysts examined and couldn't confirm a similar theory previously.

The moves could include a gradual reopening of schools and allowing people to spend more time outside.

Ojoma Idegwu, founder of plus-size fashion label Dear Curves, explains how she is adapting to coronavirus.

Sara Ali Khan knows how to keep her fans entertained and engrossed with her social media posts. And due to the lockdown, she has become a lot more active these days and is clearly having fun. Her latest post is possibly her cutest and also the best. What draws our attention is the winning caption!

Taking to her Instagram account, she shared a very old picture of herself where we could see her all dressed up, maybe for a dance performance in school and she was looking like a doll. We are not going to spoil the fun for you, have a look at the caption she has written to describe the picture.

Here it is:

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

मेरे सपनों की रानी... hamesha main hi thi... 💭 🤔 👑 💫🌟💛

A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) onApr 27, 2020 at 2:14am PDT

It's all sorted it seems! Kareena Kapoor Khan is sharing new pictures of her family, which also includes her munchkin Taimur Ali Khan, Sara and her brother Ibrahim Ali Khan are sharing some fantastic throwback pictures, and if all goes well, Saif Ali Khan may also make his Instagram debut soon. Excited?

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The world needs The Maniac. That's the name of the central character in a play called The Accidental Death of an Anarchist, written by the Nobel Prize-winning Italian Dario Fo in 1970. The plot is highly political. It involves the protagonist infiltrating a brutally corrupt system, and exposing the powers that be as being the emperor with no clothes. And in the process, he has the bad guys scrambling for cover since their misdeeds are out in the open. These villains — specifically, the police force in this case — are forced to resort to 10 lies to hide just one.

The same play has been adapted in an Indian context by Amitabh Srivastava, and is called Operation Three Star. A staging of it will take place in the city this weekend, directed by Arvind Gaur of Asmita Theatre. Gaur tells us about how the story line is timeless, and can fit any part of the world where there is an unjust hierarchical structure at work. But before we examine why that is, let's draw an outline of the plot.

The Maniac being interrogated

The curtains open to reveal an inspector interrogating The Maniac for being a fraudster. But the dim-witted policeman's IQ is no match for the highly intelligent Maniac's. So, the latter constantly outsmarts him. He intercepts a phone call that the cop gets when he is away for a little while. The caller is a superior who wanted to let the inspector know that he is needed back in the police station for a case where an anarchist has been accidentally killed. A judge is about to arrive to find out about the more minute details of the case. And hearing this, The Maniac gives the inspector the slip and decides to go to the station himself, posing as the judge.
Once there, The Maniac inadvertently learns that the death of the so-called anarchist was not in fact an accident, but a murder at the hands of the police forces. The latter are thus now trying to concoct an elaborate web of deceit to wipe their hands clean. This leads The Maniac to assume the role of a crusader, and trick the police into admitting their own guilt. And the curtains fall with an open ending, where The Maniac asks a journalist covering the case to choose between two possible scenarios.

Arvind Gaur

So, how does the same plot reflect our own times, in India? "It's through the metaphor of encounter killings, for one," Gaur tells us. He says, "There was a time when encounter cases were rampant. But then people started talking about the issue. A hue and cry was made whenever there was such a killing. And the start of that conversation eventually led to the numbers reducing, because if you think about it, there are a lot less encounter cases now than before."

Gaur adds that since there is no one superhero called The Maniac who can single-handedly rid society of corruption — there are, for instance, ethical hackers, rights activists and investigative journalists collectively doing the same job — the onus lies on individuals to address any corruption they come across. "Each of us needs to identify an issue and then talk about it to reach a solution, because if we stay mum, the unjust will get away and things will carry on as they are," he explains. The power to make a difference then lies in our own hands, he says, meaning every member of society is The Maniac to some extent. And it's just that the world needs us to recognise ourselves as being one.

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Five persons have been booked in Maharashtra's Palghar district for kidnapping a newly married woman, holding her captive for almost two weeks and repeatedly raping her, police said on Monday.

An official said the 21-year-old victim's ordeal began on February 6 when a man posing as a policeman came to her house in Pragati Nagar in Nalasopara and asked her to accompany him to the police station. "The fake policeman told the victim that her husband had been arrested and she should come to the police station with some documents," he said. She was first taken in an accused's autorickshaw to Malad in Mumbai and held captive for eight days and then to Mira Road where she was locked up in an under-construction building till February 18, the official said.

"She was raped by two of the accused at both places. Three others, including a woman, abetted the crime. The victim was released from captivity on February 18," he said. The woman filed a complaint on February 23 and the five were booked on Sunday under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for rape and criminal intimidation, the official said. He said no arrests had been made so far and further probe was underway. 

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

A Maharashtra government official was Thursday sentenced to 16 months rigorous imprisonment by a court in the neighbouring Raigad district for accepting a bribe.

Raigad Additional District Judge BC Kamble convicted Ashik Bharti, a deputy engineer with the Kharbhoomi Sarvekshan and Anveshan Department of Pen, under the Prevention of Corruption Act and fined him Rs 5,000, said a senior Anti-Corruption Bureau official.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (ACB) Mahesh Patil said Bharti had demanded Rs 5 lakh from a contractor to get his bills cleared. The contractor approached the ACB following which a trap was laid on November 6, 2015, and Bharti was nabbed while accepting Rs 1 lakh, Patil said.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

New Delhi: Instant messaging platform WhatsApp announced the rollout of a number of new features for group chats, in a bid to make the platform more interactive and engaging. Among the new features is group descriptions, wherein a short blurb will appear under the group info tab that allows users to set the purpose, guidelines, or topics for the group.

Furthermore, when a new member joins a group, the description will show up at the top of the chat.

In a move to give group administrators more authority, WhatsApp introduced a new control that will allow the former to restrict who can change the group's subject, icon, and description. Admins can also remove admin permissions of other group participants, while group creators can no longer be removed from the group they started.

Among other features, WhatsApp also introduced a 'group catch up' option, whereby a user, who has been away from a group chat, can quickly catch up on messages that mention or reply to them by tapping on a new @ button that appears at the bottom right corner of the chat.

Group participants can now search for anyone in a group by using the search option on the group info page. WhatsApp also introduced protection controls so users can't be repeatedly added to groups they've left. The new features are being rolled out for Android and iPhone users globally.

Representation Pic/AFP

My mother died at 84, on September 1, 2015. I was two oceans away, settling my son into his new university life in Montréal. Back in Mumbai, my two sisters and brother did what had to be done. Relatives were notified, last rites performed, and the body taken to the electric crematorium where we'd interred my father decades ago.

Cremation is a sombre moment. The tears have almost dried up, the words have been said. After years of watching a slow decline, death is not a surprise. So they stood there, my siblings, in the crematorium manager's office, to receive the warm earthen pot with the ashes of the woman who had made us everything we were.

Waiting with them was a fellow, a crematorium worker, blase about yet another death but eager for the customary tip. He made some money-seeking sounds, and my sister, distracted, pressed a Rs 1,000 note into his hand. We normally get Rs 2,000, he murmured. She gave him a second note. He still hung around, and then leaned forward to whisper. Apparently, a senior officer of the crematorium would drop by to see how things were going. It was normal, she was told, to give him Rs 3,000.

My sister, never at a loss for fire, asked him what he had done to merit that sum. It was the tradition, she was told. Haggling over a tip seemed the wrong action for the moment, so she gave him the money. But when she reached home, she Internetted out the email address of BMC's erstwhile municipal commissioner, explaining in plain, unfettered English that he was paying a salary to a staff of flesh-eating vultures who feasted off the grief of Mumbai's bereaved.

To her astonishment, within hours, she had received an invitation to meet with the man himself, three days away. A strange thing happened the following morning. The crematorium's manager and his money-grubbing workers, who had sought and received 'tips', showed up at our house. The envelope they handed over contained all the money they had extorted.

"Please take your tips back, madam," they beseeched my sister. "Just kindly cancel that appointment you have with the municipal commissioner." "Ah, no, I didn't make that appointment, so I cannot be the one who cancels it," said my sister. When she went to the Andheri office that issues death certificates, her name triggered an immediate flutter of interest. Apparently her letter to the commissioner was all the news that day. Many employees congratulated her for standing up to the crematorium's predators. At the BMC three days later, there were more surprises. The manager and key staff of that particular crematorium had been invited and were sitting in the outer room with hangdog looks. The commissioner wasted no time with them.

"You are accused of soliciting and extorting exorbitant tips from grief-stricken family members in the moment of their greatest grief — in return for doing a job that you are already paid to do," he said. "Please sign here, and here and here." He pushed letters of confession towards each of them, and they signed without a murmur. "These letters will be photocopied and mailed to every crematorium worker in Maharashtra, as an object lesson," he said.

They looked at their shoes wretchedly. "That's not all," he continued. "You are all hereby suspended from your jobs for a period of four months. This too will be made known to all your colleagues." He paused. "You may go now," he said, ending the meeting. Mumbai has surprised me in the past with its compassion. I remember during the biblical floods of 2005, when 1,094 people died and thousands were stranded in their cars, householders came out with coffee, tea and hot breakfast for those stranded souls as dawn broke.

But there is a dark underbelly to Mumbai, and it is predatory, ruthless, and astute. In 1996, I wrote in mid-day about a schoolboy, Murtuza, hit by a lamppost too close as he hung out of a train approaching Chembur. The wheels ran over both his legs. He was rushed to Sion Hospital, where he died despite all efforts.

But when his parents came to collect the body from the morgue, they found a leg missing. None of the ward boys seemed to know where it was. Eventually, it was whispered that the leg might be miraculously 'found' if a certain amount was paid to a ward boy. And so it was. That was 1996. Living in distant Bangkok, where too I'm certain corruption smiles, but in more sophisticated ways, I hear often that in the new India of the Modi raj, there is less tolerance for everyday corruption. Moments like this make me believe they may be right.

Here, viewed from there. C Y Gopinath, in Bangkok, throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai, the city that raised him. You can reach him at cygopi@gmail.com Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

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Vikhroli resident Dr Suvajeet Duttagupta loves cooking his meals. But, the 31-year-old cinematographer admits that some days are long and tiring and the only option is to order in. Yet, this comes with its share of heartaches. "The worst bit about ordering out is the amount of plastic that they use to package the food. While I make it a point to ask the restaurants not to send any plastic cutlery, there's only so much one can do." But, Duttagupta isn't the only Mumbaikar who wishes ordering in was more environment-friendly. With the plastic ban coming into full effect on June 23, Mumbai establishments have little more than a month to find alternatives. While some places now pack their containers in cloth bags, the containers themselves remain plastic, thus almost negating the good work done. But, there are a few who have switched to eco-friendly alternatives:

The New York Burrito Company

This brand new Mexican quick service restaurant has a takeout menu that includes Mexican bowl, burrito, tacos, nachos, quesadillas, chips with guacamole and more. They use recyclable bagasse trays and kraft bags (made from recycled paper). They also add wooden spoons and forks to their takeout bags. Senil Shah, partner, says,
"As our packaging is eco-friendly and fresh, we don't fear food getting bad. Costs have risen, but we see it as an investment for our future generation's betterment."

Senil Shah, partner, The New York Burrito Company

Where: Chowpatty
Timings: 11 am – 11 pm
Meal for two: Rs 600
Call: 8999347000

29 – Twenty Nine

This pan-Indian restaurant which opened in 2016, is much loved by the patrons for the range of regional dishes (29 states) available under one roof. "We have been experimenting with various packaging material at our Kemps Corner outlet, long before the plastic ban. The packaging material we have found best for our use is made of paper and cornstarch with an eco-friendly dissolvable lamination. This was then applied to all other 29 outlets," says owner Nishek Jain. The initial sourcing of the products came from an exhibition called PackPlus hosted in New Delhi. Certain items, like rabadi with jalebi all come in a kulhad. They pack the curries in an eco-friendly thick-bond-with-lamination pack.

Nishek Jain, owner, 29 - Twenty Nine. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Where: Kemps Corner
Timings: 11 am – 3.30 pm and 7 pm – 11.30 pm
Meal for two: R1,000
Call: 7208022929

O Pedro

This Goan eatery became an instant talk-of-the-town thanks to its mix of flavours soaked in the coastal calm. From healthy options such as corn falafel lettuce wrap to good ol' chorizo chili fry poie, their menu has something for everyone. Before starting their takeaway services, O Pedro's tried and tested their delivery menu so that they knew that the food ordered for delivery would travel well. All these dishes are packed in products made of sugarcane, sorghum and wheat that are sourced locally from Pappco Greenware. "Working without plastic has its own challenges as one is not able to secure or seal in liquids completely, but we seal our boxes with paper tape to reduce chances of spillage," says Yash Bhanage, Partner at O Pedro. He adds, "The quality and the experience of eating the meal is most important for us. Therefore, we are only looking at delivering within a limited radius where we know the food would reach our guests quickly and in the way it was intended to."

30-60
No. of days in which sugarcane bagasse decomposes

Where: Bandra Kurla Complex
Timings: Noon to 1 am
Meal for two: R1,200
Call: 26534700

Mandala

This delivery kitchen offers a wide range of salads, sandwiches and soups. Sticking to their organic living philosophy, they also ensure that their food reaches their patrons in bio-degradable containers made of sugarcane bagasse — the fibrous residue. They source these products from a company that buys the packaging raw material from the UK and then processes it to create biodegradable bowls. The company also provides data on how many carbon credits they save by using their boxes. "We don't add any items on our menu that don't withstand our rigorous testing. This means that we let our food sit out at room temperature for up to an hour to see if it retains its flavour and freshness," says Sarvangi Shah, director of marketing.

Where: Kemps Corner and Prabhadevi
Timings: 11 am-midnight
Meal for two: Rs 700
Call: 8291817376

The Pantry

Tucked in the bylanes of the city's art district, this artsy café is a perfect hideout. The Pantry was established six years ago with principles of using fresh, local produce. This even translates in their packaging where they use food containers made of cornstarch while their straws, sleeves, boxes are all made of paper. Soup containers are made of bagasse. "Liquid foods like soups are the trickiest to pack but as we use bagasse container for the same and they are with an airtight lid which holds liquids safely, it makes it easy to travel," says Sumit Gambhir, the partner at The Pantry. In order to avoid spoilage due to temperature, they ensure that they maintain the delivery timings.

Address: Kala Ghoda, Fort
Timings: 8.30 am – 11.30 pm
Meal for two: Rs 1,400
Call: 22678901

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Key, Chair

As the morning sunlight casts a warm glow on a terrace in Andheri, Yash Soni hands us a small glass bottle with a cork stopper. It fits between our thumb and index finger. Glinting at us from within is a tiny guitar carved out of the nib of a pencil.

Mic and fist, Eiffel Tower

A ‘wow’ escapes our lips as we squint to check out the intricate details — there are strings, tuning pegs, a saddle and Soni’s name carved on the instrument’s body. “It took me four hours to make it,” says the 26-year-old artist, one of the few in the city creating microscopic art out of pencil lead. This weekend, he will present a live carving session at Maker Mela, an event that celebrates art, engineering and science with a DIY mindset, at KJ Somaiya’s Vidyavihar campus.

Watch, Guitar

Russian inspiration
With a professional background in event management, Mumbai-born Soni’s tryst with pencil art began two years back, when he came across the works of experimental Russian artist Salavat Fidai on Instagram. “He carved a heart within a heart on a pencil. I was fascinated. Since art had been a hobby (he has created graffiti and speed painting works), I decided to try this too. I bought a pencil, a five-rupee cutter, and tried to carve a heart in a car, while travelling to Thane, and I was able to do it,” recounts the self-taught artist, who watched Fidai’s art-making videos repeatedly to learn the finger movements. “Now, we correspond too. His advice to me: be gentle and use minimal movements with fingertips,” he says.

Yash Soni with spool-and-needle carved on a pencil tip. Pics/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Be patient
Till date, Soni has created over 50 pencil carvings, including a key, a stiletto, a champagne glass, a watch, a chair, the Eiffel Tower, a fist with a detachable mic, a windmill with rotating blades and even a needle and spool, carved entirely out of the wood and lead of the pencil. On his wishlist are a scooter, a neckpiece and Mukesh Ambani’s tower of blocks, Antilla.

Soni’s tool set comprises two scalpels and a needle

“Carving on pencil requires a lot of patience. Since I prefer to focus on the details, it takes about four to five hours to make a piece, though I can make a heart in 20 minutes,” reveals Soni. The artist uses three basic tools — two scalpels with surgical blades and a needle fitted into a pen-like holder. “I start by shaving the wood with the scalpel and then, use a needle to carve the finer shape and details,” he adds. When we ask if he works in a particular kind of light, he confesses, “Initially, I would use a USB LED lamp attached to my laptop as a source of light when I needed to carve at night. My parents were anxious about it affecting my eyesight. Now, I’ve become more careful but I can work from any spot,” he adds.

Pencil matters
Soni uses a range of pencils, from 2B to 8B leads with a shiny finish, graphite pencils featuring matte-finish leads and carpenter pencils with a flatter surface. “Indian pencils aren’t great in quality and often, the lead within the pencil is already broken. The biggest challenge is breakage. 8B leads are thicker which helps me carve more intricately,” says Soni, who preserves the pencils in glass bottles or in customised frames.

Last week, he conducted a workshop-cum-exhibition at IIT-Chennai. Now, he also customises his works and sells them, starting from `4,000. “Most people are dismissive of the art since it’s on a pencil. My aim is to give micro sculpting the credibility it deserves,” he signs off.

The Mule
Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Peña, Dianne Wiest, Andy Garcia, Alison Eastwood, Taissa Farmiga, Ignacio Serricchio, Loren Dean, Eugene Cordero, Robert LaSardo
Rating:

Eighty-eight-year-old Clint Eastwood’s 37th feature has him directing and acting in a drama about an elderly man whose late-life drug running — egged on by desperate circumstances — becomes a tool for heavy rumination regarding conscience, morality, and reclamation. Nick Schenk (of Gran Torino fame) fashions this screenplay inspired by the New York Times Magazine article The Sinaloa Cartel’s 90-Year-Old Drug Mule, about a true event, written by Sam Dolnick.

The original mule was Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran and great-grandfather. But, for this film, Eastwood and Schenk take some creative liberties to present a sensibility that is more Eastwood than the real-life event would oblige. The experience delineates the nearly destitute senior Earl Stone’s (Eastwood) tryst with criminality conspired by an alienated family construct, and a flagging business. Earl was never there when he was needed by his family, ex-wife Mary (Dianne Wiest) and, especially, daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood). Their rejection of him when he runs out of money may be painful to watch, but it is fairly justified in the schema of broken relationships damaged by ego trips.

Eastwood, of course, lives the part. He fits the role, but as far as the fan-image goes, he seems frailer and less imposing than he did in his last cinema outing. But that physical deterioration doesn’t take anything away from the manner in which he has constructed this slow-burning, contemplative, engaging, humorous tale, which appears to be somewhat autobiographical in the manner in which it deals with relationships that are central to the story here.

We can see that Federal agents, led by a DEA Special Agent in charge (Laurence Fishburne), and newbie Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper), trying to nail some cartel drug runners out West, are eventually going to come across this unsuspicious drug-runner. But the film is not about that cat-and-mouse chase as much as it is about a conscience finally coming awake, and Earl making robust efforts to atone for his past mistakes.

Eastwood’s mule seems to bask in the freedom that easy money brings him, and appears to be unaware of the hellish depths that the murderous cartels would reach — and that’s precisely how the film plays out. With every film, like in this one too, Eastwood’s politics also comes out, loud-and-clear. He may be intriguing as a person, but not always politically correct as an actor-director voicing his personal world-view.

Earl’s eventual redemption also comes a little too easy, given the havoc he may have engineered by his flirting with the cartel. The tone shifts are jerky, the narrative veers to the ponderous and the experience doesn’t come across as entirely fulfilling — even though the cinematography and minimalistic appurtenances lend shadowy depth to the experience.

The supporting characters don’t get much screen-time, even though they are integral to the plotting. Eastwood hogs the show here. His apparent disconnect with the consequences relating to his actions is a hurdle that’s difficult to overcome. And that’s also because Eastwood’s image still manages to over-power his latter-life performances. As an audience, we are more likely to be distraught over his real-life physical deterioration than we are about the reel life character’s disempowerment.

Watch The Mule Trailer

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The state government on Friday directed schools across the state against introducing any fee hike this academic year in view of the crisis. It also asked schools to provide parents with options of instalments to pay the tuition fees and offer online payment services.

The Maharashtra state government's school education department on Friday issued the Government Resolution (GR) in this regard.

"For the academic year 2020-21, schools should not hike fees. If certain services at the school which are currently not offered and are, therefore, reducing the school's expenses, the management must try to reduce the fees. Considering parents' convenience, schools should offer different instalment options to pay the fees instead of asking for a complete annual fee at once. They must also offer online payment services for parents," states the GR which also mentions that this step was taken after receiving several complaints regarding schools forcing parents to pay complete fees at once.

Parents hail move

While the government had earlier suggested instalments for school fees, some schools had offered such options or even reduced fees in some cases. But the decision lacked uniformity and hence the GR was issued.

Anubha Sahai, president of Indiawide Parents' Association, said, "It is an excellent decision by the state government. It clearly states that no school shall force any parent to pay full fees during the lockdown."

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