Friends of the fragile land—The new age explorers in the Western Ghats

Eight take flight: The Telangana municipal polls threw up twists that left the state bewildered. K. Kavitha, estranged sister of BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, struck a deal with the All India Forward Bloc to field her supporters on its tickets. Few expected a dramatic outcome. But she delivered one. The party won Waddepally municipality in Jogulamba Gadwal district, securing eight of 10 wards. The Congress and the BRS got one each. The victory was seen as giving Kavitha an edge in her ongoing battle with her brother, and she appeared visibly triumphant. Then came the unexpected. The Forward Bloc issued a whip to support the Congress across the state, and all eight of its Waddepally councillors joined the Congress en masse | Illustrations by Job P.K.

Misname and shame: Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s meeting in Karaikal, Puducherry, produced a viral moment, one the BJP would like to forget. Addressing an NDA booth agents’ conference, Shah alleged the previous Congress government led by V. Narayanasamy had turned Puducherry into an “ATM for the Gandhi family”. The translator promptly said the name of Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy, causing visible concern before Shah corrected the error.

And it’s a match!: To the disappointment of his female admirers, it seems Ishan Kishan is off the market. After years of speculation, his grandfather Anurag Pandey confirmed that the cricketer is in a relationship with model Aditi Hundia. “Whoever Ishan chooses to marry, I fully accept,” said Pandey. “Aditi is his girlfriend.... One should accept what makes children happy.” Hundia came into the limelight after winning the Miss Diva 2018 title and later became a finalist in the Femina Miss India contest. She hails from a business family in Jaipur. Rumours about their relationship started during the 2019 IPL, when Hundia was seen cheering him from the stands. Although neither Hundia nor Kishan has confirmed the news, fans are already planning their wedding and future parenthood | Instagram@aditihundia

A musical connection: At first sight, it might look like Farhan Akhtar and Pandit Ravi Shankar have little in common, but dig deeper and you’ll arrive at something: a love for music, although it’s rock for one and Hindustani classical for the other. Now, that love is getting channelled into a four-film series on the Beatles, in which Akhtar plays Shankar, who had a profound influence on the band in the 1960s, introducing spirituality and Indian classical notes into its music. In the ambitious project directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes, each film is told from the perspective of one band member. The star-studded cast includes Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison. The series is set to release in 2028 | PTI

It’s raining Alia: You might love her or hate her, but you can’t ignore her. Alia Bhatt has been announced as one of the presenters of the BAFTA Awards along with the likes of Cillian Murphy, Kate Hudson, Ethan Hawke and Glenn Close. She shared a post by the official BAFTA page on Instagram and captioned it, “100 points if you can spot me.” Considering this comes after her appearance at the Met Gala and Cannes, it is becoming increasingly difficult not to spot her, as she seems to be conquering the world, one global event at a time. The awards will take place at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 22 | PTI

Fit to fat to fit: While most of us struggle to lose a kilo or two, Rajkummar Rao is going the other direction. Apparently, he was binging on junk food to gain 10kg for his upcoming biopic Nikam, about one of India’s most renowned public prosecutors, Ujjwal Nikam. “I was eating two pizzas and lots of sweets, and my favourite aloo parathas and biriyani....,” he said. He does not believe in prosthetics, but prefers to physically transform to fit the part. And now, he is in the process of losing all that weight for his next film on Sourav Ganguly. What wouldn’t we do for a job that involved guilt-free pizza binges? | Amey Mansabdar