01 December 2021

"We Were Kids": Shreya Ghoshal After Fans Dig Out Chats With New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

Shreya Ghoshal After Fans Dig Out Chats With New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

Shreya Ghoshal shared this image. (Image courtesy: shreyaghoshal)

New Delhi:

Singer Shreya Ghoshal has found herself trending on the sidelines of Parag Agrawal's appointment as the new CEO of Twitter. For those wondering, what the connection is between the two - let's just say it is over 10 years old and has something to do with Internet's collective online memory which is elephantine in proportion. Twitter users dug out old exchanges between the singer and the new Twitter CEO. One of the threads is a generic exchange about how they are doing in life. The other one is a tweet from Parag Agrawal that reads: "Nice DP, kya haal chaal hain." More on the old Twitter conversations later. Shreya Ghoshal reacted to the bombardment of tweets and she wrote: "Arre yaar tum log kitna bachpan ka tweets nikaal rahe ho. (You guys are digging out tweets from childhood)." She added, "Twitter had just launched. 10 years pehle! We were kids! Dost ek dusre ko tweet nahi karte kya? Kya time pass chal raha hai yeh ( Do friends not tweet to each other? What is this time pass)?"

Parag Agrawal, an IIT-Bombay graduate, is Twitter's new chief executive officer, replacing founder Jack Dorsey. The 37-year-old joined Twitter in October 2011 as an ads engineer.

Read Shreya Ghoshal's tweet here:

Needless to say, the singer congratulated her friend on his milestone. "Congrats Parag Agrawal. So proud of you! Big day for us, celebrating this news," she tweeted.

Shreya Ghoshal and Parag Agrawal's friendship goes back a long way. Back in 2010, she had requested her fans to wish her "bachpan ka dost" on social media. "Hey all! Found another bachpan ka dost! Foodie and traveller... A Stanford scholar! Follow @paraga. It was his b'day yesterday! Wish him pls." Replying to her post at the time, Parag Agrawal tweeted back: "Aila. You are influential. Followers and Twitter messages flooding in."

Like we said, Internet's collective memory has not forgotten these chats. Here's an example.

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Here's another one.

Shreya Ghoshal's discography clearly needs no introduction. She became super popular after she sang tracks for the 2002 hit film Devdas. She sang Silsila Ye Chaahat Ka, Bairi Piya, Chalak Chalak, Morey Piya, and Dola Re Dola in the film. She won a National Film Award, Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer and Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for these tracks. Shreya is also known for singing Piyu Bole from Parineeta, Jadu Hai Nasha Hai from Jism, Barso Re from Guru, Ooh La La from The Dirty Picture, Manwa Lage from Happy New Year and Ghar More Pardesiya from Kalank, Param Sundari from the film Mimi, among others.

She recently sang the track Chaka Chak from Aanand L Rai's film Atrangi Re. The track, featuring Sara Ali Khan and Dhanush, has been composed by AR Rahman and it is trending big time.

Comments Shreya Ghoshal and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy, on May 22 and they named him Devyaan. Shreya Ghoshal married Shiladitya Mukhopadhyaya on February 5 in 2015. The duo dated for several years before getting married.

Read Shreya Ghoshal's tweet here:

Needless to say, the singer congratulated her friend on his milestone. "Congrats Parag Agrawal. So proud of you! Big day for us, celebrating this news," she tweeted.

Like we said, Internet's collective memory has not forgotten these chats. Here's an example.

29 November 2021

Tharoor's selfie with six women MPs with 'attractive place to work' tweet sparks row- The New Indian Express

Tharoor's selfie with six women MPs with 'attractive place to work' tweet sparks row

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with women MPs Supriya Sule, Preneet Kaur, Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi and Jyothimani. (Photo | Twitter)

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday posted a selfie with six women MPs on Twitter with a caption:"Who says the Lok Sabha isn't an attractive place to work?", triggering a controversy with many netizens accusing him of sexism.

Tharoor later apologised for offending "some people" and said the "whole selfie thing" was done at the women MPs' initiative in "great good humour and it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit".

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"Who says the Lok Sabha isn't an attractive place to work? With six of my fellow MPs this morning," he said and posted a picture of himself with Supriya Sule, Preneet Kaur, Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Mimi Chakraborty, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi and Jyothimani.

His tweet sparked controversy with many accusing him of "sexism" and "objectification".

Reacting sharply, National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma tweeted, "you are demeaning their contribution in parliament and politics by making them an object of attraction.

Stop objectifying women in parliament".

"Incredible that someone, as exposed to equality discourse, as @ShashiTharoor would attempt to reduce elected political leaders to their looks, and centre himself in the comment to boot. This is 2021, folks, " tweeted Karuna Nandy, a Supreme Court advocate.

Responding to Nandy's tweet, badminton player and Arjuna awardee Jwala Gutta tweeted, "not really Karuna. I think we need to take a few things in a lighter note and not see everything with a magnifying glass. And this was a compliment to all the women in the Parliament which is generally stereotyped!! just my opinion."

Commenting on Tharoor's remark, a Twitter user said, "women in the Lok Sabha are not decorative items meant to make your workspace 'attractive'. They are parliamentarians and you are being disrespectful and sexist."

No man seems to be beyond casual everyday sexism, another netizen said.

After the online backlash, Tharoor tweeted, "the whole selfie thing was done (at the women MPs' initiative) in great good humour & it was they who asked me to tweet it in the same spirit."

"I am sorry some people are offended but I was happy to be roped into this show of workplace camaraderie. That's all this is," the MP from Thiruvananthapuram said.

However, TMC MP Mauhua Moitra defended Tharoor and tweeted "not surprised that a bunch of ugly trolls attacking @ShashiTharoor on a non-issue to detract attention from this non-attractive government's decision to not allow a discussion on the farm act repeal.

28 November 2021

WHO avoids Greek alphabet Xi and names new Covid variant Omicron. Here's why | World News - Hindustan Times

WHO avoids Greek alphabet Xi and names new Covid variant Omicron. Here's why

Omicron comes next to Nu and Xi, the alphabets WHO experts have cautiously avoided.

WHO skipped Nu and Xi. (Photo: Twitter/@MartinKulldorff)

Published on Nov 27, 2021 03:13 PM IST

hindustantimes.com | Written by Poulomi Ghosh

The new variant of Covid identified first in South Africa has been named omicron by the World Health Organization on Friday. The variants of SARS-CoV-2 are named after Greek alphabets, but for naming omicron, the experts skipped two letters Nu and Xi and chose omicron instead. In fact, Nu started trending on social media platforms after the news of a new Covid variant came out as Nu was the possible choice for the name of this new variant, which is believed to be more transmissible than the other variants.

Omicron comes next to Nu and Xi, the alphabets WHO experts have cautiously avoided. According to experts, Nu has been avoided as this alphabet is confusing with the English word new. And Xi has been avoided so that the name is not misconstrued as a reference to Chinese premier Xi Jinping.

Omicron Covid variant: What do we know about risks, symptoms, tests

Paul Nuki, senior editor of the Telegraph shared a quote from a source in WHO who said the alphabets have been deliberately avoided. "Nu had been skipped to avoid confusion with the word new and Xi had been skipped to avoid stigmatising a region," the court read, without mentioning the region.

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