Steve Jobs

 

I recently watched the movie ‘Jobs’ which is a biopic made on the life of Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer.

Ashton Kutcher was a good choice for playing the character of Steve Jobs, as he resembled him physically too well. Only, when he tried to ape the way Jobs walked, it looked a bit artificial.  Surprisingly, all other characters in the movie were also casted very well and closely resembled the real people they played. I wish the movie captured a bit of Steve’s childhood and other struggles. And some events in the movie were just touched upon, after all, there was too much to cover. Overall, it is a fantastic movie and  real tribute to the legendary Steve Jobs.

There are a few episodes in the life of Steve Jobs which can shock us. 

First, very few people know that Steve Jobs was actually adopted. His biological father was an Arab Muslim man from Syria who met Steve’s mother when he was a teaching assistant in a college. His mother gave away Steve Jobs to a couple for adoption. Then she fought a case to take away the young Steve and give him to another couple for adoption. The woman who adopted Steve was scared of loving him because she thought he would be taken away from her. This fact that he was adopted and his real parents gave him away to another couple must have affected his psychology.

Secondly, at the time of parenthood, he suspected that his girlfriend had become pregnant because of some other friend and hence denied paternity. After he accused her, his girlfriend broke their relationship, moved out of their shared house and supported herself by cleaning houses. This shocking incident happened for real and in the movie, Jobs is shown as being very insensitive in this part. But Steve Jobs reunited with her and accepted his daughter when she was 9-year-old. As inheritance, he also gave away large part of his wealth to his daughter. You can read about his daughter here.

If we relate the above two incidents, we can clearly see that just like Steve Jobs biological parents “disowned” him, he also tried to disown his daughter, although under a different pretext. But finally humanity won and he reconciled with his daughter and gave her a normal childhood.

Another interesting stuff about Steve Jobs is that he traveled to India seeking spiritualism and spent 7 months here. The movie captures some scenes from India and it felt nice.

Steve Jobs was considered a perfectionist and hard task master and I liked many of his attributes even though those would appear insensitive to most.

The movie also has some powerful dialogues:

• I’m not dismissing the value of higher education; I’m simply saying it comes at the expense of experience.
• How does somebody know what they want if they haven’t even seen it?
• I would rather gamble on our vision than make a ‘me, too’ product.
• We’ve got to make the small things unforgettable.
• Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently…they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
• Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
• We're gonna put a dent in the universe.

It is also interesting to know that while Steve Jobs talked about changing the world and impacting the lives of people, his company raised the price of its products to exorbitant levels after his death, making iPhones a niche product only to be owned by the rich. We can also see that no new innovative products are coming out of Apply Inc, after Steve Jobs passed away. It rather seems that the “investors” or “board” have overtaken Apple once again, the same folks who had thrown Jobs out of the company he had himself founded.

People like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates (whom I idolized during growing up days) are the inspirations we need to find meaning in life.

Hats off to Steve Jobs.

- Rahul Tiwary

Why Ugly Actors are Considered Better Actors by Society

If the title of this blog post did not shock you, the main body will try to put up some challenge. I will come straight to the point: There is a tribe which is growing stronger by the day which considers ugliness as a proof of better acting skills in Show Business (movies). If you have not thought about it before, you would find it difficult to digest it immediately. But go on and recall some of the actors who are "popularly" considered “best” of Bollywood in terms of "acting skills":

1. Om Puri
2. Irrfan Khan
3. Nawazuddin Siddiqui
4. Rajkummar Rao (Yadav)

All of these have been ugly.

Om Puri did most of his acting through his excellent (’manly’) voice while his measles’s scar ridden face looked the same all the time.

Irrfan Khan, with his swollen eyes as if he was awake whole night smoking or floating on drugs, gave same expression no matter what the movie. For example, just look at his face when he is playing a bandit in 'Pan Singh Tomar' Vs when he was playing an aspirational middle class man in 'Hindi Medium' or a Christian old man in 'The Lunchbox':

Irrfan Khan has always been hyped so much, but I wonder if he ever played a “character” he was expected to. I always find him “playing  Irrfan Khan” in each movie. When he played a bandit, he did not look like a real bandit but he looked like “Irrfan Khan in the role of a bandit”. In The Lunchbox when he played the role of a man reaching 60, he just looked like a “poorer and older Irrfan Khan”. I wonder why there has been so much “hype” about his acting skills. 

Out of these four, I like Nawazuddin Siddiqui most, because he seldom played the role of a lead character. Most of the time he plays role of a criminal, a thug, an evil man or a poor homeless man, because that is how he looks. At least he does justice with the looks he got and does not try to cheat himself or others. I like him because if he is ugly, he does not deny it. 

Now coming to Rajkummar Rao whom I dislike most, because he always does makeup, excessive hairstyling, etc as attempt to hide his ugliness. And he always gets mainstream actor roles despite being a totally misfit person for such roles. He has a “joker like” face, especially when he smiles. 

Forget about lead roles, he does not even fit into the comic roles in any of the movies he works in. In songs, he can’t lip sync well and looks so artificial. He can't dance well too. It is a pity to see our movie industry go down to the level where it can’t even fit actors into roles properly. I don't know how he gets so many roles in movies one after the other, while everyone knows that if he is in a movie, it means that the movie was made on a low budget and the producers expected it to do just "okay" kind of business.  

Social Bias

I am not alone who thinks that there is a social bias which considers ugly actors as "better actors" and makes people judge actors unfairly. You can check this Quora thread, for example: Are ugly actors/actresses better than attractive ones?. 

Due to the prevailing social bias, other talented actors have suffered since despite being more talented than these ugly actors, they did not get the same amount of press coverage. 

1. Anupam Kher
2. Manoj Bajpai
3. Pankaj Tripathi
4. Ayushmann Khurrana

I will pitch one great and good looking actor of my choice against each of the ones listed above: As per my opinion, in terms of acting skills:

• Anupam Kher > Om Puri
• Manoj Bajpai > Irrfan Khan
• Pankaj Tripathi > Nawazuddin Siddiqui
• Ayushmann Khurrana > Rajkummar Rao 

Manoj Bajpai could have played each of the roles Irrfan Khan played and would have aced those. Pankaj Tripathi could have aced all the gangster roles Nawazuddin Siddiqui played. And Ayushmann Khurrana could have done much better justice with all the roles that Rajkummar Rao (Yadav) has ever spoiled. 

This trend is not only seen among male actors. Even among actresses, we have cases like much hyped Konkana Sen Sharma who is not good looking but was always considered goddess of acting skills.

I do not think that beauty or handsomeness is a sign of acting skill, or that ugly actors are by design inferior to handsome actors in any way. I can’t be biased while attacking other people’s bias. All that I want to say is that main leads in our movies should be played by mainstream actors. The actors I listed above under “ugly actors” list did not deserve to play the lead roles in mainstream movies. One Irrfan Khan in an offbeat movie like The Lunchbox would be totally fine. But a Rajkumar Rao  won’t fit into a hip video song like this one. If a Rajkumar Rao Yadav can be the face of Honey Singh's song, then the song died long back and what we are hearing is its wretched ghost.

Bollywood's definition of charisma died the moment above movie scene was shot. Whoever casted this guy in this role should be sent to Africa to live in some tribal area without signs of civilization. 

God, bring back my Hrithik, Salman, Ayushmann and Aditya Roy Kapur. 

Only the best of Bollywood can compete with the best of Hollywood!  

- Rahul Tiwary 

Some Bollywood Movies

‘Houseful 4’: A hilarious movie which is a laughter-overdose 

‘Total Dhamal’: Except the last climax scene with animals in a zoo, rest of the movie comes out surprisingly as the best of Bollywood masala comedy 

‘De De Pyar De’: An overall entertaining movie made on a sensitive topic and surprisingly it treads the tight rope very well.

 

‘Laal Rang’: A movie which could have been a cult movie for generations to come because of an epic role played by Randeep Hooda, but due to excessive focus on blood bank business, it bores at moments due to too much details. But this will always be in the memory of Randeep Hooda fans like me due to an extremely powerful role played by him

‘Sanju’: Undoubtedly this was an immortal role played by Ranbir Kapoor, but the movie comes out boring in many segments because of the over-exposure to Sanjay Dutt’s life which viewers have already got through media and hence the picturization looks fictional

‘Tanhaji’: A very well made and memorable movie with brilliant performances, which feels slow at many places due to lack of diversity in content

- Rahul Tiwary

Heart of a Cult

 

A few years back, I had met an aged person who was a member of one of the spiritual cults that got a spiritual mother and falls under the umbrella of Hinduism. He had tried to persuade me to join his cult, telling me about its benefits and I remember that he had also criticized our original Hindu gods. I had not shown interest and was not in touch with him after that. Recently when he met me after a long time, he once again started telling me about how his spiritual cult changes a person and gives him powers. I just listened to him and wished he stopped talking. Then, half out of my sheer curiosity and half with intent to ‘change the topic’, I asked him abruptly about what was his and his organization’s opinion about actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. I was curious to hear his answer, since I wanted to explore how he would think about the topic. What he said, shocked and disappointed me at the same time.

The man immediately blamed Sushant for being immoral (because he has had multiple girlfriends without marriage), being a druggist (even though we do not know whole truth about drug angle in his death yet), and declared while sitting on a higher pedestal, “God is not a fool that He would help such immoral and corrupt men”.

On the surface, it seemed that he had got a good point. Why should God help bad people? But then, how are so many bad people winning in this world? Are they winning without God’s help or without God’s wish? And if God does not help bad people and God would help only good people, then why are so many good people in distress? Therefore, this high pedestal declaration that God did not help Sushant because Sushant was not a moral person, did not make sense.

What I was really interested in, was to understand how the brain of a member of a spiritual cult would work on a popular but controversial topic. The way our old man blamed Sushant for his tragic death, was too harsh. I could not see any empathy in his words or expressions. I found him too egoistic and his ego had caused him to blame Sushant for being non-confirmative by having multiple girlfriends or taking drugs. He did not see Sushant as a human, otherwise he would have tried to go to the next level to understand why Sushant had multiple girlfriends, or why he took drugs. If we see people as humans, we do not blame them for being what they are. People are often victims of circumstances or surroundings and it is not entirely their fault. We give others benefits of doubts too, because we know that humans make mistakes.

Afterwards, I wondered what was the use of being part of a spiritual cult if you couldn’t see a person beyond his deeds? How did the spirituality fail to change you when you couldn’t go beyond the first layer of a person’s psyche? What is the use of being able to explain spiritual concepts of your cult, but when it comes to judge others, you still resort to savagely throwing stones at sinners?

With bits of disappointment, I moved on. Our talkative man never asked me for my opinion and hence I did not get chance to share it with him. But perhaps it was better for him that he remained in his make-belief world where his spiritual mother would cure him of all his sins and send his soul to some sort of a paradise. Perhaps not all men are meant to be men of reason. Some are meant to be men of religion. In their own ways.  

- Rahul Tiwary

Cat Fight

 

The other day, I was hearing the noise of some cats and hence went out to see what was happening. I was startled to see two cats ready for a fight! There was a totally black cat in an aggressive pose standing in front of a white cat who was equally aggressive and standing just in front of the black cat’s nose. Both cats were in similar poses, with only their tails moving while their bodies were stiff. It seemed as if both would start a fight any moment. The totally black cat was slightly bigger in size as compared to the white cat, but neither of them were males, since both were slender in looks and not really big size like the male cats usually are. Both cats were making loud noises perhaps to challenge or threaten each other. I tolerated the scene for some time but then decided to end their prospective fight.

I brought a mug of water and threw it near to the place where they were standing, expecting the cats to run away and hence leave each other to safety. To my horror, as soon as water hit the ground, the cats attacked each other and there was a puff of white fur up in the air, clearly telling that the black cat had won that round! Then I noticed that the black cat had its paw in the face of the white cat and she was not leaving her! With my plan gone horribly wrong, I was perturbed and saddened. All I wanted was to make them leave each other, and here, they fought because of my action! I remembered the numerous movies in which two men would be pointing guns at each other and watching the other person’s move, and any sudden movement or noise would make them shoot! Being a movie buff, how could I forget it that something like this could happen even with cats!

The cats remained in same aggressive pose for quite some time. After a while when I went to check them out, I saw them still aggressively standing in front of each other, but there was no actual fight happening. My heart sank further with guilt. After a while, the white cat tended to sit down after folding her rear legs, while still giving aggressive gaze to the black cat. Now it seemed more than likely that the cats could have continued to give each other a scary gaze without actually fighting, and only because of my childish water throwing feat, they ended up fighting. I felt sorry for the white cat which got her face and fur injury because of my action.

Not to mention that this incident made me sad and I raked with guilt for a long time. This was one Cat Fight I was personally responsible for; and no matter how Micky Mouse would see me, I am not proud of it.

- Rahul Tiwary

Baba Ka Dhaba and Social Media’s Recipe of Controversy

 

If you are on social media, you must have heard about ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’. An old couple running a roadside eatery were not able to meet the ends because of lack of sales in the post-Covid scenario. Someone made their video where the old man was crying and telling his plight and posted it on social media. The video went viral, caught everyone’s attention because of its humanitarian aspect and soon a large crowd started gathering at his eatery for food. Media persons from all major TV News channels also bought food from there and gave much coverage to the old couple. Time passed, and the news started fading. But now there has been a new controversy.

The old man who runs Baba Ka Dhaba has filed a police complaint accusing the person who made his original video, accusing him of collecting huge funds in his own bank account, while pretending to be collecting the funds as donation to the old couple. You can read about it here. If this is true, then this incident tells very negatively about the “power of social media”.

It seems social media is going the ‘mainstream media’ way. In fact, where ever there is money involved, things tend to go astray. Selfishness, greed and ambition are traits which have corrupted many people. Social media influencers who have monetized their platforms, i.e. who earn something from their social media activity and accounts, have lost credibility and often behave in unethical manners.

I remember the days when I started writing and I started blogging in order to share my writing. The time around year 2006-07 were initial days of social media in India. In those days, no one took to social media or blogging for “money”. But things changed quickly.

Today, most big social media accounts earn money by posting stuff. For example, there are product review sites who take money from brands and write positive reviews about those. There are financial education sites which show favorable inclination towards companies and earn passive income. Then there are digital influencers who host ads on their platform and earn money by programs like Google Ad Sense. Not everything, but a lot of things are up “for sale”.

I wish people used social media as a hobby or passion but never as a profession. I am skeptic towards those social media influencers who earn money in some way or the other. I do not consider them honest or ethical. Social media should not make everyone a “businessman”. We need non-businessmen in our society as well as on social media.

Someone asked what was wrong in the way the Youtuber used the old man to earn some money for himself; after all, Baba had also earned a lot in the process only due to his video. I think if the Youtuber had explicitly mentioned that he was planning to earn personally by using Baba's story, it won't be wrong. But he cheated and misled Baba as well as his audiences and that was unethical. I wish the Youtuber comes out clean and gives all the money he collected in Baba’s name to him.

Hope this incident makes people realize that human interactions should not be only for monetary gains, our feelings should not be exploited by anyone for commercial gains, and social media should still remain purely “social”.

- Rahul Tiwary

Lord Shiva

 

In childhood, out of all gods, I had special attachment with Lord Shiva. When in crisis and difficult situations, like having missed doing homework for school, I would pray to Him and most of the time I was saved. I grew up believing that He listens to me.

When my son was born, I wanted to name him after Lord Shiva. I and my wife brainstormed, looked at all options and found a lovely name which had Shiva in it. I still see both my son and the Lord connected.

I have this particular weakness that when I visit a temple or stand in front of a deity, I can’t “ask” God for anything in particular. I have to force myself to try and ask God for a boon. I still can’t and fail to ask. Somehow my brain does not work logically and I am speechless in front of the deity. It has been like this for years.

Many times, when we are faced with a situation which is beyond our control, we blame ourselves for it. It is a form of ‘victim blaming’ too. Sometimes I blame myself for asking too many things to Lord Shiva in my childhood; which has made Him ignore me now. I can’t say that I asked for too many “little things’ in childhood, because at that time, those little things appeared most important to me. On these lines, perhaps what I want now may also be a “little thing”, even though I won’t realize.

Hope Lord Shiva still listens to me some times.

- Rahul Tiwary

Best Songs Featuring Late Sushant Singh Rajput: Part-1

Lambiyaan Judaiyaan 

Khairiyat 

Makhna 

Namo Namo

Jaan Nisaar 

Sweetheart 

Fikar Not

Woh din bhi kya din the 

Khul Ke Jeene Ka

Chaar Kadam 

Paas Aao

Main Tumhara 

Taare Ginn 

Shubharambh

Meethi Boliyan

Parwah Nahi 

Padhoge Likhoge

Fir Kabhi 

Besabriyan

Kaun Tujhe 

Mashkari

Mera naam Kizie

Ik Vaari Aa

Qaafirana

Main Tera Boyfriend

Darasal

Travelogue: Motihari Railway Station

Motihari is a town in North Bihar, close to Nepal border. Motihari, the district head quarter of East Champaran, is the place where Mahatma Gandhi was jailed during his famous ‘Champaran movement’. Motihari has several monuments and a museum related to Mahatma Gandhi. Motihari railway station was renamed as “Bapudham Motihari railway station” in reminder of its connection with Gandhi ji.

Here are some of the pictures of Bapudham Motihari Railway Station, taken this year in 2020:

- Rahul Tiwary

Movies: Sadak and Sadak 2

 

I watched Sadak (1991) recently, followed by Sadak 2 (2020). Sadak, directed by Mahesh Bhatt, was a super hit at its time and is still remembered for its story and performances. Sanjay Dutt played a legendary role of a taxi driver who goes on to save his girl, her role played by Pooja Bhatt. Sadashiv Amrapurkar played an epic role of a dreaded villain called ‘Maharani’ who was a eunuch and ran a brothel. After Pooja gets sold to the brothel by her uncle to repay a loan, Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) falls in love with her and tries to save her by taking her away on the run. But most importantly, in the end, the couple unite after Ravi kills all the bad guys, and hence the story becomes ‘happy ending’. Although I found the movie involving too much violence and some not so logical moments, the happy ending comforted me, and it felt like ‘worth spending the time’.

Sadak 2 is a sequel to the original movie and it tells the story of Ravi (Sanjay Dutt) after he loses Pooja in a road accident. Ravi is mentally disturbed and hallucinates where he talks to Pooja and also sees her (even after she is dead). The story involves a theme of “anti-superstition” or “anti-Godmen culture”. The main story is a complex one which keeps the viewers involved for quite some time. Alia Bhatt plays the role of the only daughter of a rich businessman, and she is trying to eradicate the prevalence of “fake Gurus” who exploit people in the name of God. The reason for her motivation being that her mother was killed by the aunt under the influence of a Godman. In the end, the story turns upside down and hence it becomes a thriller and full points to the movie for that. I am not revealing whole story because it is a new movie and people should watch it.

I see a few incoherencies in the movie and have my observations:

1. I think the movie should not have been made as a “sequel” of original movie ‘Sadak’, but it should have been made into a standalone movie and then it would have made much better sense. There is no continuance of the original story line.

2. It was not necessary to show Sanjay Dutt suffering from a mental illness. It was possible for him to hear his own thoughts, instead of “seeing” or “hearing” Pooja even after she was dead. Although the movie’s major theme is “anti-superstition” but Sanjay Dutt keeps seeing Pooja Bhatt and it looks more like her ghost than a hallucination, and hence is self-contradicting.

3. As per the prevailing trend of Indian movie industry, Hinduism is singled out for showing most of the evil things that happen in the name of God or religion. Although Sadak 2 avoids showing saffron color and chooses black color as a theme which tries to tone down its anti-Hinduism nature. But for a change, movie industry should also make movies showing “fake Fakirs” or “fake Sufis” or “fake pastors”; instead of making it “fake Gurus” which singles out Hinduism as a target.

4. Aditya Roy Kapur is an extremely talented actor; and shows a wonderful “switch” from a hero to a villain in Sadak2. But in the later part of the movie, his role is curtailed abruptly, which is noticeable and hence not nice. For example, during the press conference scene, when Alia says that evidence is in the form of Aditya Roy Kapur, he is not shown speaking even a single word. It looks unnatural. In the earlier part he played a much more prominent role.

5. Sanjay Dutt has played a very realistic role of Ravi who is disillusioned after his wife’s death and finds no purpose left for a living. He has experienced life, has achieved things but when he loses the person connecting him to the world (his wife), and since he has no kids, he finds no purpose in life and tries to commit suicide. That moment in a way is prophetic. As a society we have to think of ways in which we should avoid that situation.

Sanjay Dutt has played the best role in the movie. Alia Bhatt is at her best too, even though her character was not too strongly scripted. The villain “Guruji Gyan Prakash”’s role played by Markand Deshpande is not so powerful, even though Markand Deshpande is a genius actor, just because the character is taken straight out of evil Godmen shown in second grade TV serials. I think Sadak 2 could have been a much better film if it was made as a separate film instead of fitting it into a “sequel”. While the first part Sadak was a 'happy ending' story, the second part Sadak 2 has ruined everything: it shows that Pooja did not bear any child, dies in a road accident, Ravi suffers mental problems and in the end dies. This sad twist to everything is a grave injustice to the fans of original movie Sadak. 

Overall, Sadak 2 is still a good film which should be watched. And one should not get affected by political campaign against the movie by certain social media influencers.

- Rahul Tiwary

Need for Anti Media Trial Law

If you have been following news and updates on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case, you must have noticed that Rhea Chakraborty is perceived to the prime suspect. But if you try to think what all hard evidences are against her, you would realize that there are virtually no evidence linking her directly to Sushant’s death! But why have we almost concluded that she is the “culprit” or “prime suspect”. It is because of the FIR filed by Sushant’s father where he suspected Rhea of being responsible for Sushant’s death; but it is also because of the manner in which media and especially TV News Media has been portraying her. It can be said that almost all TV channels have already solved the Sushant’s death case and also found the guilty person: Rhea Chakraborty. It is a textbook case of “Media Trial”.

Press Council of India (PCI) is a statuary regulatory body responsible to act as a watchdog and maintain adherence of press and media outlets in the spirits of Press Council Act. A few days ago, it had sent out a note to all media outlets against any “media trial”. You can read about it here: [Reference].

Taking strong objection to the coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case by many media outlets, the Press Council of India on Friday said the media should adhere to the norms of journalistic conduct in covering cases under investigation and is advised not to carry out its own "parallel trial". The media should not narrate the story in a manner so as to induce the general public to believe in the complicity of the person indicted, the Press Council of India (PCI) said in its advisory.

But, TV News Channels did not pay any heed to the warning and carried on with the same kind of news handling. There are two reasons behind this:

1. The PCI has no power to enforce or impose any penalty on either the individual journalists or the publications [Reference] 
2. It is believed that Electronic Media, TV News channels and social media do not come under the purview of PCI. [Reference]

It can be easily understood that the government needs to empower PCI so that it can effectively handle situations like the current case where Rhea Chakraborty’s media trial is the ongoing norm. At the same time, the vilification of Rhea Chakraborty strongly demands for an “anti- Media Trial” law.

The “Anti Media-Trial Law” which I am proposing should allow PCI or any other stationary regulatory body to effectively enforce the spirits of honest journalism. At the time where “Fake News” is widely spread and even the President of United States Donald Trump has been campaigning against it, India can show the way to the world by making such a law. Such a law should not be too harsh and should have enough checks and balances in place to avoid its misuse, because journalistic freedom and freedom of Press are very important and our first priority. 

I request our government to think about this proposal and bring a legislature to stop the unjust and vilifying episodes of “Media trials” in our country.

- Rahul Tiwary

About IPS Vinay Tiwari, SP, Patna - Bihar's "Singham"

 

Vinay Tiwari (full name: Vinay Om Tiwari) is a young IPS Officer who is currently in news due to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death related probe. Vinay Tiwari is Patna (Central) Superintendent of Police (SP). He is part of the Bihar Police team that went to Mumbai for investigation and was forced-quarantined due to inter-state travel and it created a huge controversy. Despite a wide media coverage, little is known about Vinay Tiwari as a person and hence I searched to find more facts about him. Here are some of the details:

Vinay Tiwari is a native of Lalitpur city in Uttar Pradesh. He was born in an economically poor family. He was bright in studies and has an impressive academic career. Before joining civil services, he completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from IIT-BHU, Varanasi and also worked with JSPL in the final year of his engineering course. After doing engineering, he began preparation for the UPSC examinations despite getting job offers. Vinay Tiwari cleared the UPSC exams in his second attempt and still offers tips to the candidates preparing for civil services through his blog - "dreamstrugglebepositive".

In 2019, he was appointed the new Superintendent of Police, City, of Patna. Earlier, he was posted as Sadar SDPO in Gopalganj (Bihar) where he was popularly known as "Singham".

Vinay Tiwari also has a penchant in writing and he is a poet. He writes poems in Hindi. Recently he released his poem recitation on Coronavirus which you can check on Twitter here.  

Vinay Tiwari is also a mathematician and is writing a book titled "Mathematics and Principle of Life".

If you are on Twitter, you can follow him at: https://twitter.com/IPSVinayTiwari

We can see that there is more to Vinay Tiwari than Sushant’s probe in Mumbai. We also come to realize that he is a versatile person and is a self-made man and an achiever. We are proud of him and wish him all the best for future!

- Rahul Tiwary

References: Ref1, Ref2

Nature: A Cow and A Leopard

This is an old real story from year 2002 which is going ‘viral’ again with a wrong location and time. Hence I thought to write about it. The original story can be read here, as reported by Times of India.

This happened at Antoli village in Vadodara district, Gujarat, around the year 2002. Every night, a leopard would enter the village from nearby maize fields. It would go to a specific location where a particular cow was tied. It would first watch the surrounding to make sure there was no threat. Then it would come near to the cow and both will play affectionately. The villagers would be able to witness this and sometimes the leopard would sooner if it noticed that the villagers were nearby. As part of their play, the leopard would put its one leg over the cow's head and makes a "purring" sound. Purring sound is made by many animal species. In cats, it is a sound of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens. Cats also make purr sound as a sign of contentment; for example, when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. In response to the leopard, the cow would also make a sound and lick the leopard affectionately. 

Here are some of their pictures taken together:

(Above) The Leopard arrives, watches the surrounding while the cow looks at it

(Above) The Leopard and the cow play together 

(Above) The cow would treat the leopard as its own calf 

Now the question would arise about why the cow and leopard developed such a friendship. The TOI article quotes Mr. HS Singh, Conservator of Forests, Vadodara, who said, “Sometimes animal behaviour can get modified. In this case, probably because the leopard which has passed the sub-adult stage, lives in a rural area and not strictly a wild environment.”

I searched for more articles and came across this one which described this event in great detail. It mentions that earlier, two leopards, one big and another its kid, were seen by the villagers who reported about them to the forest department. The forest department put a trap, captured the big leopard and released it in a nearby forest. This new leopard started coming to the village afterwards and it was perhaps the baby leopard who was now alone and missing its mother. Due to some strange reason, the young leopard developed a bond with that cow who started treating it like its own calf; and that explained their relationship. Although the article says that perhaps we shall never be able to know all details with 100% authenticity.

No matter what the actual reason was, I am sure that this special case of the cow and this leopard would warm your heart.

- Rahul Tiwary