April 8, 2021 - Short Post

Politics

In less than nine months of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s welcoming the first batch of Rafale jets and highlighting how the fighter jet acquisition was a unique Government-to-Government deal, the Congress party is back with a fresh Rafale assault. “Karma = The ledger of one’s actions,” tweeted Rahul Gandhi, triggering a low-intensity twitter brawl with hashtag #Rafale. India’s season of multi-state polls and rallies has once again got animated after Yann Philippin’s Rafale report appeared in French portal Mediapart.fr. Subramanian Swamy’s joining the brawl has only raised confusion. His tweet, “Gov may brief a few to counter the ballooning demand for probes in France on the Indo France Rafale deal. I had originally studied it when XXX struck a 126 plane deal with Carla Bruni. Parrikar cancelled it and started a new deal. He briefed me. But alas Parrikar passed away.” Soon, Swamy shared a livefistdefence.com story (May 11, 2011) where he had attacked the IAF’s $12-billion M-MRCA fighter deal during the UPA regime. Philippin’s disclosures to Barkha Dutt’s Mojo Story point to involvement of a middleman who is already being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate in AugustaWestland case. That partly explains why the so-called scandal – dismissed as “completely baseless” by Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad – didn’t get the desired twitter momentum. The question being asked is at whose behest is the Rafale issue being raked up again?

Post By Short Post Team

Entertainment

When OP Nayyar, Mohd Rafi Sang To Shammi’s Tune

The Shammi Kapoor-Sharmila Tagore starrer Kashmir Ki Kali directed by Shakti Samanta was not only a box office hit but also renowned for its popular songs composed by OP Nayyar and sung by Mohammed Rafi. Remember the famous number, Yeh Chand Sa Roshan Chehra, shot on Dal Lake shikara which became an eternal boat ballet to remember with the song reaching a striking crescendo – Tareef Krun Kya Uski Jisne Tujhe Banaya What’s not known to many is an interesting story behind the song. At the recording studio, as is customary, the hero, Shammi Kapoor, was present. But he did not like the way music director OP Nayyar had composed the song – especially the end part of it. Being a popular star, Shammi Kapoor requested Nayyar if he could quicken the pace of the song at the end to a crescendo and sync the last line Tareef Karun Kya Uski with the music. Nayyar, it seems, turned down Shammi’s suggestion. Seeing a sulking Shammi, Rafi saab asked him what the matter was. Shammi told Rafi saab about his suggestion and how Nayyar saab refused to entertain him. Rafi was convinced; he told Nayyar saab, “Looks like Shammi has something in his mind as to how he will perform on this song. Why not listen to him and compose the ending as per his wish.” With Rafi also making a request, Nayyar relented. The picturisation is dramatic as you see Shammi serenading Sharmila in the middle of the Dal Lake, as she’s rowing her shikara, full of flowers. The performance has become immortal. What would have happened had Nayyar saab not given in?

Post By Ashok Kumar

Sports

Sanmar Chief Sankar Giving A Helping Hand To Retired Cricketers

Recently, N Sankar, Chairman of the Chennai-headquartered Sanmar Group, demonstrated his affection to cricketers who represented the company-owned club, mainly the famous Jolly Rovers. Sankar, who turned 75 last November, reached out to former Club cricketers Najam Hussain and KR Rajagopal. After blogger Sampath Prabhu wrote that Hussain (played 23 Ranji Trophy matches for Madras and 18 for Mysore between 1961-70) was in financial need, Sankar, the good Samaritan, provided substantial monetary assistance to the troubled former cricketer. Afterwards, Sankar arranged for utility services assistance to Rajagopal (played 20 Ranji Trophy matches for Mysore and 22 for Mysore between 1961-70) living at his home in Banashankari in South Bengaluru. Both Hussain and Rajagopal are 80 years old, who have rendered yeoman service to their Club and States. The US-educated Sankar has been a great patron of sports, in particular, cricket, and was President of the TNCA. His family’s decision to promote cricket, especially the running of the Jolly Rovers in the 1960s, changed the ecosystem of the sport in Madras. Sankar was a talented tennis player, but after being affected by polio, he won doubles tournaments with cousin N Srinivasan (MD, India Cements), who became the President of TNCA, BCCI and Chairman of the ICC.

Post By G Viswanath

Celebrities

VK Krishna Menon’s Dark Side

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s biography of VK Krishna Menon — A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon — based on fresh archival material, reveals that the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru entrusted Menon with responsibilities such as the post of high commissioner to the UK and defence minister, although Nehru had himself diagnosed Menon as suffering from depression and dark mood swings, as early as 1938. When asked to leave as high commissioner, Menon in a letter acknowledged to Nehru that he took sedatives and hypnotics, but insisted that the barbiturates were not habit-forming. The mercurial Menon, who had strong likes and dislikes, usually created divisions wherever he worked. As defence minister Menon played havoc. He encouraged army chief General PN Thapar to humiliate and charge-sheet two of the most outstanding officers in the Indian Army, General KS Thimayya and General SPP Thorat, who were later exonerated. He instigated his favourite, General BM Kaul, to hold a court of inquiry against Lt General Sam Manekshaw, who was to be later appointed India’s first field marshal. Clearly, even the best of leaders can be fickle-minded – and a disaster.

Post By Short Post Team

TRENDS & VIEWS

Technology Cannot Disrupt Original Content Provider: Short Post Editor

They say time flies. How true! Today is our #SecondAnniversary. Two years back at the height of Covid-19 Pandemic when lockdown was the way of life we took a leap of faith and launched Short Post (Jan 28, 2021), the first-of-its-kind website in the country that focuses on Authentic Gossip. The Oxymoron is deliberate. Well, the response has been quite encouraging. That’s what has kept us going. Till date we have posted close to 2000 stories in the areas of Politics, Business, Entertainment and Sports. Each insightful story of around 225 words has been contributed by Senior Editors. There is a sense of satisfaction of creating a new segment in the market – authentic gossip — and in the process creating a brand (in a limited sense), creating demand (readers) and creating supply (writers). Well known advertisers — IDFC FIRST Bank, ICICI Lombard – supported us. And that really boosted our confidence. Thank you!

So here we are raring to go. But, when I look at the media landscape the disruption is indeed fast and furious. Technology is playing a very big role in how content will be consumed. In the past, we have seen how social media has disrupted the media world. Now, everybody is saying the same thing about ChatGPT. It has reached 1 million users in five days. Its scorching pace of growth is indeed frightening and will disrupt the media industry big time. My limited argument is can it do investigative stories, write gossip items using the digital world ecosystem. Unlikely. Clearly, the original content has to be created first — only then can ChatGPT do the magic. That’s what we promise to do – focus on original content.

Before I sign off, I am reminded of an old advertisement of the early sixties: “Avis is only No.2 in rent a cars. So we try harder”. Likewise I can say, we are two years old and we are trying even harder to be relevant to you readers.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Technology Cannot Disrupt Original Content Provider: Short Post Editor

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