Shady agents, human traffickers... horror stories of Indians who took the illegal route to US

Stumbling on Sanskrit: These days, public speeches at government events are often peppered with shlokas from the Gita or the Vedas, often to align with the current political sentiment, and at times to genuinely draw on ancient wisdom. The problem comes when the anchors of such events are caught off-guard with such references. Hindu beliefs emphasise precise pronunciation of verses to unlock their full potential, but the emcees at times have to stumble and fumble their way through. Recently, at the Army-organised Chanakya Dialogue, when one such emcee was found struggling, the chief guest, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, couldn’t help but quip, “Sanskrit pronunciation is quite difficult.” | Illustrations by Job P.K.

Lawyer on wheels: A lawyer logged into the Supreme Court from a moving car, making his argument as trees, autorickshaws and honking scooters flashed by. Justice Vikram Nath interrupted, “Next time, don’t argue sitting in a car. Arguments in motion lose direction and may go here and there.” The court chuckled at the observation as the lawyer put the brakes on his submissions.

Amma in his heart: How K.A. Sengottaiyan helps shape Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has been the hot political topic in Tamil Nadu for the past few days. But as the former AIADMK minister entered the TVK office, he signalled—not once, but twice—that he still followed in the footsteps of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa. When a senior TVK leader tried to drape a shawl with the party colours on him, Sengottaiyan subtly told him to take it off. He apparently said the shawl would hide the photo of Jayalalithaa placed inside his see-through shirt pocket. The second signal was the banner outside his house at Gobichettipalayam in west Tamil Nadu, which had the images of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa bigger than that of Vijay’s.

All for a cause: Pedro Pascal and Bella Hadid are a deadly pairing, but not in films. The duo is hosting the third annual Artists for Aid concert in support for Sudan and Palestine in Los Angeles on January 10. The performers include Shawn Mendes, Daniel Caesar, Clairo and Ravyn Lenae. All proceeds will go to the Sudanese American Physicians Association and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. The concert, led by Sudanese-Canadian singer-songwriter Mustafa, could not have come at a better time, with the wars in these countries resulting in thousands of deaths, displacement and human rights violations | Getty Images

Grief examined: How do you act out grief when you don’t exactly feel it? It was a mystery for Ananya Panday until some advice from Shah Rukh Khan solved it. “When there is a scene where someone dies, instead of thinking that the person is dead, think about how life would be without that person,” Shah Rukh told her. “Think about continuing life but that person is not there any more.” Many gurus can give you advice on how to be happy, but only King Khan can teach you how to be sad | AFP

Utopia, Musk-style: Elon Musk is not exactly known for moderation in speech and true to form, during a conversation with Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath, he provided enough fodder to keep netizens entertained. This included the revelation that his partner Shivon Zilis is half-Indian, and the middle name of one of their children is Sekhar, which, of course, is relatively tame for a Musk progeny. But what animated online discussion forums was his prediction that in less than 20 years, advances in AI and robotics would bring us to a point where working was optional. “People will have any goods and services they want,” he said. “If you can think of it, you can have it.” A utopia that seems highly unlikely, unless Musk can rub a lamp and bring out a genie | Getty Images

Marriage, outdated?: If anyone is an authority on marriage, it has to be Jaya Bachchan, whose marriage with Amitabh Bachchan has lasted 52 years. In the age of celebrity divorces and marital woes, this is no mean feat. So when she tells her granddaughter Navya Naveli Nanda not to get married, we have to ask why. Jaya said she finds marriage to be an outdated institution and wants Navya to “just enjoy life”. She further said that she had not asked her husband for his views on marriage. “He might say it is the ‘biggest mistake of my life’, but I don’t want to hear that,” she said. What a blow for the romantics who grew up on the iconic pairing of Jaya and Amitabh and believed that their love spilling off-screen meant that happily-ever-afters did exist outside movies and novels | PTI