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SoBo doc who Worli-Lower Parel tops with 12 cases, followed by 11 in Malabar
tested positive Hill-Pedder Road-Walkeshwar, and ten in Juhu-Andheri-Versova
on Friday saw
40 patients just
days earlier
The heart surgeon also
City’s rich pockets
performed five surgeries;
his 85-yr-old urologist
dad died on Thursday
| Vallabh Ozarkar
and Chaitanya Marpakwar
@timesgroup.com
are the worst-hit
BMC insists no community transmission, says most cases due to foreign travel
TWEETS @chaiMIRROR
or direct contact with the infected; fumigation, contact-tracing stepped up

T
he heart surgeon of a south SATYAJIT DESAI
Mumbai hospital who was
admitted to Hinduja Hos-
pital after testing positive
for coronavirus on Friday
operated on five patients in the
previous week and came in contact
with at least 40 others, of which 14
fell in high-risk category, according
to the BMC.
The surgeon’s father, an 85-year-
old urologist who also tested posi-
tive, died of a heart attack on
Thursday. The surgeon continued to
perform his duties at the hospital till
Thursday morning. His son, who
returned from London in the second
week of March, is also coronavirus
positive.
All those patients who were oper-
ated on have now been quarantined
along with the relatives who visited
them.
According to officials, the BMC
has tracked down at least 40 patients
who came in contact with the doc-
tor. Authorities have also cordoned
off the operation theatre and surgi-
cal ICU of the hospital.
Mirror contacted the relatives of
two patients who underwent sur-
gery. Their samples have been taken A fire brigade official sprays disinfectant in a lane in Andheri on Sunday
for testing and results are awaited.
One of the patients is a 73-year-old
businessman from Byculla, who was | Chaitanya.Marpakwar (G South Ward) has most number spersons, and top actors. All ten cases, while M East and West wards
admitted to the hospital on March @timesgroup.com of cases at 12, followed by Malabar cases reported in Juhu-Andheri- combined (Deonar, Govandi,
20 for a bypass surgery, which was Hill-Pedder Road-Walkeshwar (D Versova are people residing in high- Mankhurd, Chembur), which has
TWEETS @chaiMIRROR
performed last Monday. Ward) with 11, and Juhu-Andheri- rises and bungalows, and all of the poorest human development

T
“The surgery was successful and
we were very happy,” the patient’s
son told Mirror. “The doctor was vis-
iting my father till Thursday. On
Thursday he brought his father to
the hospital for a CT scan. Now we
are being told that he had the virus
and that his father died on
Thursday.” PAGE 6 »
he scourge of coronavirus
has proved that in the
changing world, it’s the
poor who are at a risk from
the affluent. A ward-wise
breakup of the Covid-19 posi-
tive cases drawn up by the BMC
revealed that the Worli-Lower Parel
Versova (K West Ward) with ten
cases.
Some of Mumbai’s glitziest
hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs
are located in these wards. The
localities are home to the majority
members of the city’s swish set,
including corporate captains, sport-
them travelled abroad recently.
On Sunday, with 15 new cases,
the total number of cases in the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region rose
to 123. Of these, 88 are within the
BMC jurisdiction. The BMC data
revealed that the P North Ward
(Malad-Madh-Gorai) has seven
index in the city, have 12 cases.
A BMC official said that compre-
hensive fumigation was being car-
ried out across the city, and special
care was taken of the localities from
where the cases were reported.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 »

Apologies, 40-year-old dies in

Inside
Truck carrying 64 labourers
detained in Sakinaka. Truck but lockdown Kasturba; youngest
owner took Rs 2,500 per necessary: casualty in the city
head from the labourers. PM during A 40-year-old woman died late
The saddest Mann Ki Baat Saturday in Kasturba Hospital.
She is the youngest among the
walkathon Uddhav asks migrant seven casualties in the Mumbai
workers to not leave.
since Partition Metropolitan Region. The woman
Thousands of migrant was admitted to Kasturba on
Centre orders sealing of state, Saturday after she complained of
workers from across India,
district borders, warns violators India numbers: severe respiratory distress.
including Mumbai, continue to
march towards their villages.
of 14-day quarantine, but thousands 1,024 cases, 15 new cases, state
PAGES 3-12, 14 continue to march on highways. 27 deaths tally goes past 200
 City
MumbaiMirror 2

INFORMER
Monday, March 30, 2020

THE
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror

Think you’ve got a story? Write to us PAGE THAT is running in safe mode
at mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com

RAJU SHELAR

Talk to me
IN these times of quarantine, your diarist is
addicted to Sid Mallya, the handsome Cali-
fornia-based son of beleaguered businessman Vijay
Mallya. Honestly, we are tired of see-
ing assorted celebrities doing
the dishes with their gel mani-
cures, or scrubbing the floors
while doing surya namaskar.
Sid, refreshingly, has been
getting personal and how.
He has been sharing long
JESSE BAINBRIDGE

videos of his battles with

anxiety and depression.
Some of the topics include
living with OCD, abandon-
ment issues he faced as a
child due to his parents’
divorce and anxiety he
faces because of his
father’s legal battle.
“The whole point of
these videos isn’t to
be ‘preachy’, but to
show others out there
who suffer that they
aren’t alone. I felt the
best way to do this
was to share in an
open and trans-
parent manner
everything I’ve
been through, and
what has helped
me get through it
all,” he tells your
diarist.
LIGHT AND SHADE
Tamannaah Bhatia spotted at a studio in Goregaon early last week
Sid Mallya

The book can wait Dress code: black robe

BJP leader NK Singh is a tad disappointed. As it
turns out, mere days before the national
IT has probably been three years since the list of senior
advocates to the Bombay High Court was announced.
emergency was announced, The latest list was announced a few weeks ago and we are
Singh was prepping to host the happy to find names of some of
launch of his newly released our friends. Congratulations to
book at a popular five-star Tushad Cooper, Abad Ponda,
hotel in New Delhi. The end Sanjog Parab, Raja Thakare,
of all outings has now put Birendra Saraf, Sharan Jagtiani
a spanner in the works. and Zal Andhyarujina. Two
However, small mercies of these star advocates,
must be thanked as Singh has Sharan and Zal, are in fact
received the Dr BR Shenoy protégés of legal eagle Janak
award for Economics Dwarkadas, who hosted a
from, well, Swarajya dinner for them at the garden of
magazine. his Nepean Sea Road building.
While Sharan’s father is the
well-known Haresh Jagtiani of
NK Singh
the eponymous law firm, Zal’s
father TR Andhyarujina was
CORNERED Morparia the former Solicitor General
of India.
Janak Dwarkadas

K Radharaman
@TheTweetOfGod
Somewhere in China there’s a bat
getting high-fives from every other
Weavers’ support animal he sees.

CLOSE on the heels of Sabyasachi announcing

that all his staff will get paid for as long
as the lockdown continues, several other designers have
made efforts to take care of their employees. But a special
mention must be made of Bengaluru’s K Radharaman, who
shot to fame when Deepika Padukone wore his Kanjeevaram
sari for her wedding to Ranveer Singh. Radharaman, who
supports local weaving communities in the area, has
decided to provide full wage to hundreds of weavers and
artisans he works with, regardless of their ability to be able
to work from home. He has also donated one month’s salary
to WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Tailpiece
HE isresident
one of the most famous men in India and a
of our favourite suburb. So imagine our
surprise while strolling through the said suburb’s lane we
spotted a tempo seeking directions to the Famous Man’s
home. It seems the tempo driver had fresh mangoes to
deliver to him. To get your favourite fruit delivered to your
doorstep in times of lockdown is what we would call hitting
it out of the park.
 City MumbaiMirror
Police personnel at a nakabandi on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway find ways to keep themselves safe
Four cases reported
from Worli Koliwada
All four are above 50 and have no foreign travel history or
any known contact with a coronavirus-positive person
Chaitanya.Marpakwar
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @chaiMIRROR
T
he novel coronavirus has
now spread to a fisherman
colony in the city. Four new
cases have been reported
from Worli Koliwada. None
of them have any foreign travel histo-
ry and neither do they have any
known contact history with a corona-
positive person.
All four are above 50 years of age.
“One of those infected used to work as
a cook at a PSU in Trombay. So we are
informing them to get their staff test-
ed and screened,” said Sharad Ughade,
Assistant Municipal Commissioner,
GSouth Ward. “The three others do lo-
cal jobs and don’t travel much. The
don't know who might have infected
them,” Ughade said.
The BMC is concerned about those
who are not taking the lockdown and
social distancing seriously. “We will
make the lockdown more stringent.
Despite reminders and appeals, peo-
ple are not adhering to social distanc-
ing norms and are still coming out of
their houses. We are already carrying
out disinfection operations in the Ko-
liwada but people must follow the
lockdown, otherwise the virus will
spread,” Ughade said.
The colony is densely packed with
ground-plus one or two storey build-
ings. Many residents use community
toilets too. Most of them are fisherfolk
who live and work there.
Cases in slums
On Tuesday night, a 65-year-old wom-
an from a Prabhadevi chawl tested
positive. She died on Friday evening.
The woman ran a food mess in Prabha-
devi and served lunch to many work-
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE AKUmasankar3
Worli Koliwada is densely packed with two-storey buildings
ing in a business centre next door. The
woman had no foreign travel history
and neither did she have any known
contact with a corona-positive pa-
tient. With dozens of executives from
neighboring business centres eating at
her mess, the BMC is faced with a big
challenge to trace all the people that
might have interacted with her.
The BMC sent samples of nine of
her relatives for testing and conducted
a cluster screening of 33 houses in the
chawl where she lived. Around180 res-
idents were screened for symptoms.
The BMC will make follow-up calls to
each of them for 14 days to check if any
of them develops Covid-19 symp-
toms.
“We have also got in touch with
the business centre to find out about
the employees who used to eat at her
mess, they too will be screened as and
when we find them,” Ughade said.
Apart from cluster screening, the
BMC has also begun disinfection oper-
ations by using quick response vehi-
RAJU SHINDE
SACHIN HARALKAR
cles of the Fire Brigade.
In Kalina’s Jambhlipada slum
pocket, a 37-year-old man who return-
ed from Italy tested positive last week.
The slum with around 800 units is
densely packed and people use com-
munity toilets here too. The man who
worked as a waiter in Italy returned in
the first week of March. “He was
screened at the airport but showed no
symptoms at all. Later he was not feel-
ing well so he went to a local doctor
and was given medicine. He also went
to Kasturba Hospital but was tested
negative. His condition showed no
improvement and he was tested once
again at Kasturba Hospital. He was go-
ing about his routine chores even
since he returned and must have come
in contact with hundreds of people,”
said former Congress corporator Brian
Miranda who lives in Kalina.
On Thursday, the doctor who ran a
clinic in Kalina tested positive too. The
test results of five of his staffers are
awaited.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Woman, 40, is
youngest victim;
15 new cases
Five are from city and rest from the suburbs
Chaitanya.Marpakwar
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @ChaiMIRROR
C
ovid-19 claimed the life of a
40-year-old woman on Sat-
urday — believed to be the
youngest victim in Mumbai
so far — even as the city reported 15
more cases on Sunday.
The woman became the state’s
seventh Covid-19 fatality; she
passed away at KEM Hospital. The
patient, who was hospitalised on
Saturday, had severe respiratory
complications; she also had hyper-
tension.
“She had complained of breath-
lessness and severe respiratory dis-
tress at the time of being admitted.
The report came out positive for cor-
onavirus. She is the seventh person
to die of Covid-19 in the state,” an of-
ficial said.
Among the 15 other cases report-
ed in MMR, five are from the city and
the rest from the suburbs. With these
15, the total number of coronavirus
cases have reached 123 in MMR.
While 88 cases have been reported
A nearly empty fish market in Borivali West
Riot breaks out in
Thailand prison
D
ozens of prisoners broke furni-
ture and smashed windows
during a riot in a Thai jail on
Sunday sparked by fears of a coronavi-
rus outbreak in the facility.
During the violence some con-
victs escaped from the Buriram prison
where 2,000 are held, the justice min-
istry said. Seven
have been arrested.
Local media WORLD
showed footage of
black smoke billowing from the facili-
ty in the country’s northeast.
“There was a group of prisoners
trying to escape and were creating
chaos... which included burning
from Mumbai, 35 are from neigh-
bouring areas such as Thane, Kalyan
and Navi Mumbai.
“The number of cases is growing
but there is no community outbreak
as yet. Two hundred and thirty-sev-
en patients are admitted at Kasturba
Hospital. Most of the positive cases
have a travel history or they have
come in contact with someone who
has a travel history,” the official said.
Five of the new cases, however,
do not have any travel history. BMC
officials said they were asking those
who came in contact with them to
come forward.
Meanwhile, the state govern-
ment announced that the Mahatma
Phule Jan Aarogya Scheme will cover
treatment of Covid-19 patients as
well. Health Minister Rajesh Tope
said with the inclusion of coronavi-
rus in the scheme, the patients will
get cashless treatment in more than
1,000 hospitals across the state from
April 1. Currently, there are 492 pri-
vate hospitals covered under the
scheme and from April 1the number
of participating hospitals will go up
to 1,000, said Tope.
NILESH WAIRKAR
down some facilities inside,” said Na-
rat Sawetana, director general of the
Corrections Department.
Justice Minister Somsak Thepsu-
tin confirmed that a group of inmates
sentenced to life had started “agitat-
ing” other prisoners with rumours of a
virus outbreak.
“The fact is
that none of the
prisoners in Buri-
ram were infect-
ed — they only started this rumour to
find some supporters,” the minister
said, adding that the cafeteria and vis-
iting areas were among the facilities
torched.
 City
K 4
C ORONAVIRUS OUTB E
SundayMumbaiMirror
R A Monday, March 29, 2020

EXODUS OF MIGRANTS

THE LONG WALK HOME

The workers see no choice but to risk their lives by heading back to hometowns
| Raju Shinde, Sunil Baghel
and Yogesh Naik Finding strength in
numbers
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
390
Manik Rathod km

I
n the face of a crisis, it’s human
tendency to seek refuge at home.
Four days since the nationwide
lockdown came into effect, there
was no slowdown in the mass
exodus of migrant labourers on
Sunday.
Worried about not being able to
make ends meet in the city, families
gathered their meagre belongings,
heaved their children on to their
shoulders and set off on foot for a
kilometres-long journey for their
homes. Some others were so
desperate to get away that they were
willing to huddle up in the back of
trucks, and rustle up sums beyond
their means for such getaways.
Mirror came across large groups of
such people who were headed for
Karnataka, interior parts of
Maharashtra and Gujarat, even as the
police persuaded them to stay put.
All of them worked as daily wage
labourers, and their incomes have
stalled since the lockdown began.
One such group claimed that more
than 400 families have left the city.
The exodus has prompted the
state and central governments to
initiate stricter lockdown measures as
well as make arrangements to stop
the migrants from leaving. A senior
bureaucrat said on Sunday, the
Union cabinet secretary spoke to all
state chief secretaries on the issue.
“Camps are in place for such
migrants in Maharashtra.”
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari
has asked all divisional
commissioners to direct district
collectors to take steps to stop the
PICS: RAJU SHINDE
Thane to Solapur
Manik, who lived in Balkum Pada, Thane, for years was evicted
by his landlord along with other tenants after the lockdown came
into effect. He, his four family members and five others who hail
from Solapur decided to band together and find their way back
home. “I used to come here for work only during the agricultural
off season. I have a house and some farmland at Solapur. What
will I do by staying back here? I don’t have money to pay rent
anymore,” he told Mirror at the Khalapur toll naka.
The government policy towards
stranded migrant labourers is
‘Sadak (Road) Pe Maro’ instead of
‘Madad (Help) Karo’. The reasons for this
panic is no contingency plan, no finan-
cial security offered and no timely buses
deployed to help them transit like Air One meal for a family of 5
India did for Indians abroad Bhimrao Rathod
—Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill Titwala to Humnabad in Bidar 510
km
district of Karnataka
Bhimrao and his family set off with only one time’s meal in their
bag. They rested every 5 km and had already covered 45 km
when Mirror’s photographer Raju Shinde met them on Sunday
afternoon. Right at that time, the slippers of Bhimrao’s son broke,
forcing him to part with his own tattered slippers and start walk-
ing barefoot. Moved by the plight, our photographer disinfected
his own shoes and offered them to him. Bhimrao said he had
lived in Titwala for nearly five years and owned a small house. He
had called his wife and three children from Humnabad after
schools were shut down in the wake of the pandemic.
He rued the lack of work at present, adding that
he’d be able to work even as a farm hand back
home.

workers from leaving.

Owner, driver
pack 64 workers
into truck
The owner and the driver of a
truck have been booked for trying
to ferry 64 migrant labourers from
Saki Naka to Uttar Pradesh in their
vehicle under the pretext of trans-
porting essential goods. They also
charged each labourer Rs 2,500.
Around 3 am on Sunday, the
Saki Naka police stopped the truck,
covered with a tarpaulin sheet at
the back, during a nakabandi. On
its windshield, a sheet of paper
NATION
declaring it as a goods carrier was
pasted. But the police found 64 Seal state Don’t leave: Kejriwal
people packed in the back. They told
the police that they were migrant boundaries: Centre to workers
labourers who had no work left in The Centre on Sunday asked state govern- A day after thousands of migrant workers
the city and had no go but to head ments and Union Territory administrations to thronged Anand Vihar bus terminal in
back home to their villages in UP. effectively seal state and district boundaries Delhi, CM Arvind Kejriwal appealed to them
DCP (zone 10) Ankit Goyal said to stop the movement of migrant workers. to stay put. Taking to Twitter, he said large
no action was taken against the Only the movement of goods will be allowed. gatherings increase the risk of the virus
labourers, and arrangements for Those who travelled during the lockdown, in- spreading. “I assure you that the Delhi
their meals and dry ration were A child is packed into a bus near the Delhi-UP cluding migrants, will have to spend at least 14 government has made sufficient arrange-
made. —Vallabh.Ozarkar boundary in Ghaziabad days in government-run quarantine facilities. ments for your food and accommodation.”
 City
K 5
SundayMumbaiMirror
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A Monday, March 30, 2020

Migrants at the CIDCO exhibition centre in Navi Mumbai

Navi Mumbai, Thane turn

schools, govt buildings,
Evicted by landlord
Jitendra Shinde
Sion to Mangaon, Raigad
115
km stadium into shelters
Jitendra didn’t remember how long he had lived in Mumbai, but was sure it BMC still to catch up;
had been “many years” since he made the place his home. His landlord asked
him to vacate the house in Sion after the lockdown, and since the private office
Home Guards zeroes in on
where he worked had closed, he decided to head back to his village in Mangaon
with his family of six. “Since the police aren’t allowing vehicles to cross over
its land in Versova
into a different district, I am trying to arrange for a vehicle from Mangaon up | Rahi.Gaikwad
to Panvel, and then another up till Vashi as I’m hoping the movement of vehi- @timesgroup.com
cles within a district shouldn’t be a problem,” he said when Mirror photogra- TWEETS @rahi_MIRROR
pher Raju Shinde met him near Vashi.

C
ivic schools, a stadium and The Dadoji Kondadev Stadium in Thane,
government buildings in Navi which has taken in 250 labourers
Mumbai and Thane have been
turned into shelters for migrant now. If required, we will think of schools. We
workers following the state have made additional arrangements at the
government’s directive. The workers started TMC’s Gaimukh School,” said Sandeep Malvi,
arriving at these shelters on the intervening the TMC’s public relations officer.
night of Saturday and Sunday. The Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had on Corporation (KDMC) said it is still reviewing
Friday appealed to workers, who could not facilities. “As of now, eight schools have been
return to their native villages, that they earmarked across all wards, which can accom-
should stay put where they are and assured modate 150 people each. We are creating a
them of assistance. capacity for 1,000 people. Another building
Navi Mumbai and Thane have a large con- in Dombivli can accommodate 70 people.
centration of migrant population. The corporation has its own night shelter,
By Sunday afternoon, the Navi Mumbai where 150 people have been housed. Space is
Municipal Corporation (NMMC) had housed not a problem. The government is providing
1,350 migrants in 12 of its schools, night shel- them food,” said Milind Dhar, deputy com-
ters and three government buildings—Gujarat missioner of the KDMC.
Bhavan in Vashi, and Samaj Mandir in Turbhe The BMC, however, is lagging behind—it
and Digha. Around 100 people have been hasn’t even earmarked schools that can be
accommodated at each of the schools. The turned into shelters.
Came a week before shutdown CIDCO exhibition centre in Vashi has also
been thrown open, where around 200
Sanjay Pandey, director general of the
Home Guards, said locations are being identi-
Dhanraj Rathod 530
migrants have been accommodated.
“We have made arrangements for their
fied, and that a camp is being set up in
Versova on the Home Guards’ land by the
Thane to Kalaburagi, km meals and stay. We have also roped in NGOs,” NGO Harmony Foundation. “We are starting
Karnataka said an NMMC official. with half an acre of space, which can accom-
Dhanraj and his family of seven arrived in Kapurbawdi, Thane, in search of The Thane Municipal Corporation has modate 350 people and will expand, if need-
work just a week before the state government announced a partial shutdown in accommodated around 250 labourers at the ed. We will put up a tent at the place. That
COVID-19-affected districts. He and his elder brother could work only for two Dadoji Kondadev Stadium. “The workers were will take about two days. We will keep a dis-
days before being rendered unemployed. Left with no money and work, the shifted on Saturday night from various loca- tance of 5 ft between beds. We are getting
family decided to leave for their home. They trudged up till Panvel around 7 tions with the help of the police and the dis- calls from labourers in Santacruz, SEEPZ,
am on Sunday, in the hope of hitchhiking a ride. With a majority of vehicles trict administration. Since the stadium is MIDC, Mira Road, Govandi, and Dharavi,”
off the roads, their streak of bad luck continued. “The police tried to stop us at huge, we have sufficient space. We do not said Abraham Mathai, chairman of Harmony
certain places, but we changed our route and continued with our journey,” said need additional facilities and schools as of Foundation.
Dhanraj. He said some police personnel offered him food and water in the
afternoon. Mirror checked in with the family later and they said they had man-
aged to cross Khalapur via the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.
ALL HELP WILL BE
NATION GIVEN: UDDHAV
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday assured
migrant labourers that they will be taken care of and
Man sets off on foot, given basic necessities like food and water.
The Shiv Bhojan scheme offering meal at Rs 10 will
dies midway now be available at Rs 5 from April 1, he said in a web-
A 39-year-old restaurant employee, who cast.
walked almost 200 km from Delhi to reach He said the state has set up 163 centres to
his home in Morena in MP, collapsed and provide food and water. “The state will protect
died in Agra on Saturday. According to them and provide food, but they should not
police, he complained of chest pain after leave their place. I understand that they
collapsing and died soon after. He had are anxious but they should not leave. They
Police brutality was again on display at left Delhi on Friday morning. The autopsy should avoid increasing the risk of infec-
the Anand Vihar bus depot in Delhi report is yet to be released. tion,” he said.
 City
K 6
MumbaiMirror
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A Monday, March 30, 2020

Nursing home sealed SONALI GUPTA

Keeper of secrets, healer of hearts, and a
practising psychotherapist writes here on

after woman who TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

Write to her at mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com

Love, loss and

lived there tests +ve
50 employees of the Mulund facility and their relatives sent into quarantine longing in times of
Mumbai MirrorBureau
Mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMIRROR
On March 21, the patient was taken to the nursing
home after complaining of loose motions. Hearing the
history, we sent her to Kasturba hospital, but they sent
coronavirus
A
her back to Mulund. The son urged that his mother be 25-year-old male client defined it as: “Grief that persons
kept at Kasturba, the nursing home owner said. tells me: “I can’t talk at experience when they incur a

A
private nursing home in Mulund East was iso-
lated and 50 of its employees were sent to a
quarantine centre after it was found that an
85-year-old woman, who had tested positive
for the coronavirus, had stayed there.
Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, T Ward officer Kishor
Gandhi said that the hospital was quarantined and sam-
ples of the family where this woman stayed were also
sent to Kasturba Hospital for testing.
The woman, a green card holder, had come to Ghat-
kopar East with her son for a month from the US for holi-
day on March 5.
Her son had fever and was examined at Kasturba Hos-
pital. He was declared Covid-19 positive on March 14
and was admitted there. The woman’s report along with
that of others that came on March 17 showed her nega-
tive for the virus, but their maid was coronavirus posi-
tive, the BMC officers said.
The woman’s son and maid were admitted to Kastur-
ba Hospital and later discharged after testing negative.
Since there was no one to look after this woman pa-
tient, she was taken by a couple to their house in Mu-
lund, said the owner of the nursing home.
Later she complained of fever. A CT scan was done home as the walls are
and pneumonia patches were detected. “We again re- too thin, so I have come
quested Kasturba Hospital to take her, but they refused. to my building terrace.
On March 25, her son requested us to shift her to a private I really need the session as I’m
hospital. Jupiter and Fortis didn't respond, hence we ad- feeling claustrophobic, anxious
mitted her to Hiranandani Hospital. Her samples were and can’t tell this to anyone. You
sent to Kasturba, and she was detected to be Covid-19 know that over the last five years,
positive on March 27,” the nursing home owner said. He my father and I have barely
said after this the nursing home examined all its staff spoken to each other and now we
members. Their results were negative. The family where are stuck in the same house with
she stayed have also been tested. Nearly 50 staffers and the lockdown happening. To put
their families have been sent to a quarantine centre, he it in a gentler way, let’s say we
said. have tolerated each other’s pres-
The nursing home employees staying in Bhandup ence. I feel frustrated and I’m sure
have been sent in self-quarantine. Even the centre where he feels that too. Earlier I would
she went for CT scan has been checked and employees spend most days at work and
have been examined, said the owner. only return home for dinner. I
Mulund MLA Mihir Kotecha said that all those who miss my work; it was my escape.”
visited the nursing home will be screened A 52-year-old woman tells
No new patients can be admitted. Some patients were me: “It’s been strange, the lock-
discharged and asked for home quarantine. Five pa- down is changing our marriage.
tients can't be discharged, said the nursing home owner. Over last few years, we both were
so busy and maybe caught up
that we checked out of the rela-
loss that is not or cannot be open-
ly acknowledged, socially sanc-
tioned or publicly mourned.” I
feel given the pandemic and the
lockdown we all are struggling
with it. For years, having tea and
reading the newspapers has been
a centering ritual for me and the
last few days with the papers not
coming home, that's a loss too.
Whether people articulate or
not, there is a feeling that there is
loss of time, loss of hope partic-
ularly in relation to the pol-
icymakers, healthcare systems
and our larger world narrative.
These losses if not addressed are
going to change us forever and
maybe contribute to paranoia
amongst other things. Parents
are deeply worried that children
are missing their friends and
struggling with nightmares
where their sense of safety and

SoBo doc who UAE opens drive-through

tionship. Now when he is help-
ing me in the kitchen, we are
security is threatened.
Most households have asked

tested positive cooking together and laughing

over small things, I feel we are
their staff to not come to work
and as result there is a loss of

saw 40 patients coronavirus testing site falling in love all over again. We
were seeing old pictures when he
liberties that one could take
when it came to household work.

just days earlier WORLD

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“How can the doctor be so irresponsib-
le? Even after knowing his family mem-
ber’s travel history,” his grandson
asked. “My uncle is currently in hospi-
tal with my grandfather. The hospital is
asking us to move to another medical
facility and not providing us with nec-
essary help,” the grandson said, adding
he and his father have been advised not
to visit the hospital.
“We hope our grandfather’s results
are negative.”
The surgeon on Wednesday operat-
ed on a 78-year-old woman from Vashi,
Navi Mumbai.
“My mother was admitted on Mon-
day and bypass surgery was performed
on Wednesday. The surgery was suc-
cessful and we thought now everything
would be all right, but the very next day
we learned that his father is in the hos-
pital and has the virus. On Friday BMC
and police officials came and sealed the
premises,” said the patient’s son.
“Now all of us who were in the hos-
pital are at risk. I am surprised that the
BMC has not even approached any of
the patients’ family members for tests. I
am awaiting for my mother’s test re-
sult.”
Prashant Gaikwad, assistant mu-
nicipal commissioner, D Ward, said the
BMC had sent those who came in con-
tact with the doctor into quarantine.
“We have also carried out disinfection
operations at the hospital. We urge
those who came to the hospital to get
screened and tested,” he said.
The United Arab Emirates has
launched a drive-through corona-
virus testing facility as part of the
Gulf state’s efforts to fight the dise-
ase, the Abu Dhabi government’s
media office announced.
The facility, inaugurated by
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed, will provi-
de safe screenings within five mi-
nutes, using state-of-the-art equip-
ment and a highly-qualified medi-
cal team, it said.
“A new drive-through testing
facility for COVID-19 has laun-
ched ... to offer safe testing proce-
dures,” the office said on Twitter
Saturday. According to official sta-
te news agency WAM, the facility
can serve 600 people a day, with
priority given to senior citizens,
pregnant women and those with
chronic illnesses.
The government media office
said people should book an appo-
intment in advance. Tests “for the
wider community for reassurance
only” would cost 370 dirhams
(USD 100), according to govern-
ment advice on Twitter.
The UAE, which has 468 offici-
ally declared COVID-19 cases, in-
cluding two deaths, has imposed
restrictions on night movements
and taken steps to sanitise outdoor
areas and public transport.
The Gulf state has halted pas-
senger flights, closed its borders to
foreigners and asked people to go
outdoors only if necessary.
UAE Attorney General Hamad
Saif al-Shamsi has issued a list of fi-
nes ranging from USD 272 to USD
13,600 for those violating regula-
tions imposed to contain the virus.
AFP
held my hand and said, ‘I’m sorry
for all those times I was not
there.’ We both ended up crying.
He said we would go for couples’
therapy when all this ends. You
know this didn’t make me as
happy as I thought it should. My
worry is what will happen to us
when the lockdown is over?”
In the past couple of weeks,
with the Covid-19 pandemic and
now the lockdown relationships
are changing all over the globe. A
pandemic of this magnitude has
made us aware of our own mor-
tality and that of others too,
hence the anticipatory grief. The
nationwide lockdown has left
people with an uncertainty, a
feeling of being in a limbo.
Also cabin fever – a feeling of
agitation and sense of restless-
ness that comes with being stuck
in a space.
What most people are experi-
encing is a feeling that every-
thing is slipping away and all
answers about when things
would normalise seem elusive.
While there are financial losses,
there is also loss of autonomy,
personal space, our freedom,
safety and even physical, social
intimacy. These are losses that
are very hard to articulate, but
deeply felt. Dr Kenneth Doka,
Professor of Gerontology at the
College of New Rochelle Gradu-
ate School, coined the term
‘Disenfranchised Grief’. He
Couples are finding themselves
at loggerheads when it comes to
the so called gender roles. While
all literature is reminding people
to enjoy time with their families,
for those in physically abusive
relationships/marriages, these 21
days are trauma with no way out.
People are feeling deeply lonely
in their own homes.
All those questions about
‘What’s the first thing you would
do when this is over’ are a reflec-
tion of the longing that we all
carry within us. A longing to go
back and hold hands with a
romantic partner, a yearning for
restaurant food and a sharp
desire to be in an empty house
when everyone has gone to work.
Like everyone else I wonder –
What happens to love that
blooms in this age and time?
Would this forced pause change
us forever? It’s alright to not have
the answers.
Give yourself the permission
to feel the emotions and even
accept that you feel a sense of
loss. There has never been a time
before where we have needed
this degree of self-compassion
and mindfulness.
Maybe we all need to find new
ways of finding hope, holding
our own ground and even re-
discovering mindfulness. The
next article explores this.
(This is the third article in the
serieS.)
 City
MumbaiMirror
Labour ministry allows
EPF account withdrawal
EPFO introduces online claim settlement facility without manual intervention
T
he Labour Ministry has al-
lowed over 6 crore subscribers
of retirement fund body EPFO
to withdraw an amount not
exceeding their three months
basic pay and dearness allowance from
their EPF account to help them deal
with the cost of the pandemic restric-
tions.
Besides, Employees' Provident
Fund Organisation (EPFO) also intro-
duced online claim settlement facility
without manual intervention on Satur-
day morning for all KYC complaint sub-
scribers during the lockdown.
The ministry has issued a notifica-
tion in this regard on March 28, 2020 to
amend the Employees' Provident Fund
Scheme 1952, a labour ministry state-
ment said.
The decision is taken in view of lock-
down across the country to fight CO-
VID-19.
The notification permitted non-re-
fundable withdrawal not exceeding the
basic wages and dearness allowance for
three months or up to 75 per cent of the
amount standing to the credit of their
Thane hsg society seeks civic body’s
advice after tenant tests positive
The tenant had travelled to Pune and is currently being treated there
David Delima
david.delima@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
A
housing society in Thane
West has informed the
Thane Municipal Corpor-
tation and the police that
one of their residents has
tested positive for the coronavirus and
is being treated in Pune. The society
has sought advice from the authorities
as its members have been in self-isola-
tion.
In a letter addressed to the district
collector and the Thane police, the
secretary of the housing society stated
that one of the tenants of the building
had travelled to Pune. The society said
that the tenant tested positive in Pune
and was being treated there.
The letter also sought advice from
the authorities as to what the resi-
dent's further action should be.
They stated that all the residents
had been in self isolation in their
homes since the lockdown and had
not had any interaction with the ten-
ant and his family during their three
day stay in the city.
The residents also requested the
corporation to take the necessary steps
to sanitize the building and disinfect
the tenant's flat.
They added the information was
brought to their notice by the owner of
the flat who had let out the place to the
family.
Senior Police Inspector Jitendra
Rathod confirmed receipt of the letter
and stated that the residents of the
K 7
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A
EPFO has issued
directions to its field
offices to promptly
process any
applications received
from members to help
them fight the situation
EPF account, which ever is less, the min-
istry said.
The COVID-19 has been declared
pandemic and therefore employees
working in establishments and facto-
ries across entire India, who are mem-
bers of the EPF Scheme,1952 are eligible
for the benefits of non-refundable ad-
vance.
A sub-para (3) under para 68L has
been inserted in the EPF scheme, 1952.
The amended Employees Provident
Fund (Amendment) scheme, 2020 has
come into force from March 28.
Following the notification, EPFO
has issued directions to its field offices to
promptly process any applications re-
ceived from members to help them
building were currently isolated in
their flats until further instruction. He
stated that there were no plans to seal
the building as there was no contact
with any of the residents during their
three day stay. The Thane Municipal
Corporation has also sanitised the flat
and surrounding area, he told Mirror.
The housing society also informed
the police about the resident’s travel
details, stating that he had first trav-
elled to Pune on March 7 and spent
three days there to celebrate Holi on
March 10.
The details of his travel in the city
during that time are currently un-
known.
The resident then travelled to Guj-
arat from Pune on March 11, where he
stayed in Vapi until March 13, accord-
ing to the society.
He then took a rental car and trav-
elled to the flat in Thane where he
stayed for three days with his wife and
children until the afternoon of March
16.
On March 16, the tenant and his
family left for Pune where they have
been staying since. His wife, sister-in-
law, daughter, as well as a few elderly
family members have all tested nega-
tive at Naidu Hospital in Pune. His
doctor, who is also his brother-in-law,
and the hospital staff who treated him
all tested negative. They are all cur-
rently in isolation.
The 50-year-old tenant, who is cur-
rently being treated at the Deenanath
Hospital in Pune, started showing
symptoms on March 20.
While his initial test results came
negative, the housing society learned
REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
fight the situation. “We are happy to in-
form that our online claim filing facility
for Covid-19 withdrawals has been suc-
cessfully launched at 11 am on March
28. IT (information technology) divi-
sion of the EPFO has devised a system of
auto settlement of claims through our
centralized server in respect of all such
members whose KYC (know your cus-
tomer) data is fully updated and com-
pliant.
"It is going to be a paradigm shift in
claim settlements that will make it pos-
sible to settle within three days. This fa-
cility will stop manual intervention.
The EPF claims will be settled fully on-
line," an official said. agencies
of his latest test results on Saturday
night. The Pune health department is
currently tracing the people the resi-
dent came in contact with to try and
ascertain where he contracted the vi-
rus from.
The housing society is one of
Thane’s largest residential communi-
ties and the area it covers also compris-
es a school, shopping center and a
clubhouse.
The school and club house were
shut a week before the state govern-
ment instituted a lockdown on March
23.
Thane has ten out of the 203 con-
firmed cases of the novel coronavirus
in the state, which has the highest
count across the country.
Till now there have been 1024 CO-
VID19 confirmed cases in the country,
including 27 deaths, while 96 have
been cured or discharged. Out of
these, four new cases were discovered
in the Thane district area on Sunday,
bringing the total number of cases in
the entire district to 29.
There are 10 patients in the areas
under the Thane Municipal Corpora-
tion, while there are 8 each under the
Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corpo-
ration and Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation.
Meanwhile the areas under Ulhas-
nagar, Thane rural and Mira Bhayan-
dar corporations have 1patient each.
Mirror had earlier reported how
Thane’s District Collector had cracked
down on shared modes of transport, as
a preventive measure to protect the
spread of the virus from the city to ru-
ral areas in the district.
Monday, March 30, 2020
NATION
India’s toll reaches 27,
over 1,000 cases reported
Total number of positive cases rises by 106 in 24 hours
T
he countrywide tally of
confirmed coronavirus
cases crossed the 1,000-
mark and the toll reached
27 on Sunday, even as the
central government ordered sealing
of all state and district borders to
check community transmission of
the deadly virus by migrant workers
and asked those having left already
to be quarantined for 14 days.
The national capital alone re-
ported 23 fresh positive cases, taking
its count to 72, while more people
tested positive in adjoining Noida as
also in Maharashtra and Bihar,
among other states.
The new cases included a SpiceJet
pilot with no history of internation-
al travel.
The total number of positive
cases has increased by 106 in the last
24 hours to reach 1,024 and eight
more persons died in this period to
take the nationwide toll to 27, ac-
cording to the latest official figures.
Charitable organisations, volun-
teers, religious institutions and gov-
ernment bodies including Railway
Protection Force fed tens of thou-
sands of people across the nation but
many more remained outside the
safety net.
Concerned over such move-
ments causing the risk of a commu-
nity spread, the Centre asked state
governments and Union Territory
administrations to effectively seal all
state and district borders and said
those having already left be quaran-
tined for 14 days.
During a video conference with
chief secretaries and DGPs, Cabinet
Secretary Rajiv Gauba and Union
Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked
them to ensure that there is no
movement of people across cities or
on highways as the lockdown con-
tinues.
Govt launches helpline to deal
with mental health issues
T
he government has
launched a toll-free help-
line number –
08046110007 -- for people
who may face any mental
health issue due to the ongoing
countrywide lockdown.
In its daily briefing on the coro-
navirus situation in the country, the
health ministry said on Sunday the
National Institute of Mental Health
and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS),
Bengaluru, has launched the num-
ber.
“We are under a lockdown and
behavioural issues are very impor-
tant under such situations. It is a new
process.
“If there are any behavioural is-
sues, lack of understanding for that
we at the National Institute of Men-
tal Health in Bangalore in collabora-
tion with all other institutes has been
trying to provide guidance.
“I request everyone to fight unit-
REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
“There has been movement of
migrant workers in some parts of the
country. Directions were issued that
district and state borders should be
effectively sealed,” an official state-
ment said.
States were directed to ensure
that there is no movement of people
across cities or on highways and
there should be strict implementa-
tion of the lockdown.
States have been also told to en-
sure timely payment of wages to la-
bourers at their place of work during
the period of lockdown without any
cut.
House rent should not be de-
manded from the labourers for this
period. Action should be taken
against those who are asking labour-
ers or students to vacate the prem-
ises, the government statement said.
The Indian Railways said it will
now run special trains of parcel vans
to ferry essential commodities.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
also wrote to Modi, saying the sud-
den lockdown has created immense
“panic” and “confusion”. He called
for steps other than a total lockdown
announced by some developed na-
tions to tackle the deadly disease.
Gandhi said the number of poor
people in India who are dependent
on a daily income is too large to uni-
laterally shut down all economic ac-
tivities in the wake of the pandemic.
Earlier, WHO had
warned that the
coronavirus crisis and
the restrictive
measures that many
countries are taking to
contain the outbreak
can have a negative
impact on people’s
mental health
edly against this disease so if we see
any mental health issues then all the
institutes are equipped to provide
you with necessary support,” said
Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, the
Ministry of Health.
Earlier, WHO had warned that
the coronavirus crisis and the restric-
tive measures that many countries
are taking to contain the outbreak
can have a negative impact on peo-
ple’s mental health and well-being.
 City
MumbaiMirror
After pilot tests positive, DGCA
suspends breath analyser tests
AI pilots union had urged the regulator to suspend the tests to ensure staff’s safety
Satish.Nandgaonkar@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
A
viation regulator Directorate Gen-
eral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on
Sunday temporarily suspended
mandatory breath analyser tests
on airline pilots and crew until fur-
ther orders in view of the COVID-19 pandem-
ic.
The decision comes after a SpiceJet pilot
tested positive for COVID-19, and a written
appeal by the Indian Commercial Pilots Asso-
ciation (ICPA) to immediately suspend
breath analyser (BA) tests for aviation person-
nel.
DGCA said that due to the extraordinary
circumstances in view of the COVID-19 out-
break and the directives of Delhi and Kerala
High Court, the breath analyser tests on all
aviation personnel as required under civil
aviation norms have been suspended at all
airports till further orders.
“However, every aviation personnel who
is reporting for duty is required to submit an
undertaking stating that he/she is not under
the influence of alcohol and that he/she has
not consumed alcohol/psychoactive sub-
stance in last 12 hours from the time of report-
ing,” said the order adding that the undertak-
No bail for wedding during
lockdown, says court
It chided an accused in Dongri building collapse case for wanting to attend son’s wedding
David.Delima
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
S
urprised by the request to attend a
public ceremony during the coro-
navirus pandemic, a holiday court
rejected the interim bail applica-
tion of an accused in the Dongri
building collapse.
Sessions judge Priti Kumar Ghule rejected
the bail plea of former trustee Ali Shroff who
wanted to attend his son’s nikah ceremony
and reception in Juhu on Sunday.
Shroff had submitted that his
son’s marriage ceremonies had al-
ready commenced from March 19
and he wanted to attend the pre-
wedding function as well as the
wedding on Sunday.
The prosecution had opposed
Shroff’s application, citing the on-
going national lockdown. It was
also argued that under the circumstances, the
wedding could be postponed because a gath-
ering of more than four persons was not al-
lowed.
The court asked Shroff where the bride and
groom were and how many family members
would attend the ceremony. He responded
stating that they both lived in Andheri and
the ceremony would be conducted indoors.
Noting that there were about 10 family
members including the bridegroom’s grand-
parents, the court observed that the nikah
could be performed in the presence of two
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
RAJU SHELAR
Domestic flights were stopped last week
ing must also mention that any violation of
the undertaking would result in suspension
of licence for three years.
The DGCA order also asked the airlines to
carry out random checks on pilots and cabin
crew to ensure compliance of Rule 24 of Air-
craft Rules.
Earlier, a SpiceJet spokesperson con-
firmed that a SpiceJet First Officer had tested
positive for COVID-19 on March 28 when the
test report came in. “He did not operate any
international flight in March 2020. The last
domestic flight that he operated was on
March 21 from Chennai to Delhi and since
then he had quarantined himself at home. As
a precautionary measure, all crew and staff
who had been in direct contact with him have
The Kesarbai building in Dongri crashed on July 16, 2019, killing 13 people;
(left) Ali Shroff is a former trustee of the building
persons from either side. It was al-
so observed that given the gov-
ernment directions, there was no
question of travelling to any-
body’s house for any purpose till
April 21. Shroff was directed to seek regular
bail.
Survivor Huma Jariwala, who lost her
brother and niece in the building collapse,
had moved the court seeking to intervene in
Shroff’s bail application as the sole pursuing
victim in the case, represented pro-bono by
advocates Zain Shroff and Parth Sanghrajka.
“The court had expressed its shock and dis-
pleasure over the fact that the accused had the
audacity to approach the holiday court citing
urgency during the lockdown for a marriage
ceremony,” Sanghrajka told Mirror.
been asked to self-quarantine by staying at
home for the next14 days. All measures are be-
ing taken to provide appropriate medical care
to him,” the spokesperson said.
Referring to positive test report of the Spi-
ceJet pilot, Indian Commercial Pilots Associ-
ation (ICPA) and the Air India pilots union
had written to DGCA chief Arun Kumar re-
questing him to immediately suspend the
breath analyser tests. Though international
and domestic flights have been suspended,
Air India pilots have been conducting evacua-
tion and relief operations from March 31 to
April 3.
The ICPA letter said the Air India pilots
have been given a schedule of as many as 35
flight legs to be carried out between March 31
and April 3, and that they could contract the
virus if the tests continued.
“Continuing BA Tests in these circum-
stances is extremely dangerous. As a respon-
sible association which has demonstrably be-
lieved in the efficacy of the preflight and post-
flight BA tests, all we ask is that the safety of
our pilots be considered by you and appropri-
ate orders be passed,” said the ICPA letter.
Air India is scheduled to operate at least
two special evacuation flights to France from
Mumbai and Delhi till April 3, and connect-
ing flights from Mumbai to Bengaluru, Chen-
nai, Hyderabad, and Delhi.
The Kesarbai building in Dongri collapsed
last July, killing 13 people and injuring 9 oth-
ers. After several months of investigation dur-
ing which the Dongri police collected the
statements of over 75 witnesses, a chargesh-
eet was filed and four accused were arrested.
Of the four arrested, Shroff was an ex-
trustee of the building, while Safdar Karmali,
Barkat Unea and Shabbir Mukadam were
trustees at the time of the collapse.
Mirror had earlier reported how the Don-
gri police had offered protection to Jariwala
after she complained that the family of the ac-
cused had threatened her. The police had filed
a non-cognisable complaint on March 14
against Abbas Virani and Abbas Bhojani for
allegedly threatening her and her mother
outside court after Shroff’s bail hearing.
8
Monday, March 30, 2020
WORLD
Fatalities across
globe cross 31,000
More than two-thirds recorde in Europe
T
he worldwide number of officially confirmed
fatalities from the novel coronavirus rose to
31,412 on Sunday, according to a tally com-
piled by AFP from official sources.
More than two-thirds of the deaths from corona-
virus have now been recorded in Europe.
Over 667,090 declared cases have been registered
in 183 countries and territories since the epidemic
first emerged in China in December. Of these cases,
at least 134,700 are now considered recovered.
The tallies, using data collected by AFP offices
from national authorities and information from the
World Health Organization (WHO), likely reflect
only a fraction of the actual number of infections.
Many countries are only testing cases that re-
quire hospitalisation.
Italy, which recorded its first coronavirus death
in February, has to date declared 10,023 fatalities,
with 92,472 infections and12,384 people recovered.
Like Italy, Spain has more fatalities than China with
6,528, as well as 78,747 infections.
China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has
to date declared 3,295 deaths and 81,394 cases, with
74,971recoveries.
The other worst-hit countries are Iran with 2,640
deaths and 38,309 cases, and France with 2,314
deaths and 37,575 cases.
An emergency field hospital has been set up
in East Meadow in Central Park in New York
German minister
commits suicide
Was worried about the economic fallout
T
homas Schaefer, the finance minister of Ger-
many's Hesse state, has committed suicide ap-
parently after becoming “deeply worried” over
how to cope with the economic fallout from the cor-
onavirus, state premier Volker Bouffier said Sunday.
Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track
on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution's office
said they believe he died by suicide.
“We are in shock, we are in disbelief and above all
we are immensely sad,” Bouffier said in a recorded
statement.
Hesse is home to Germany’s financial capital
Frankfurt, where major lenders like Deutsche Bank
and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The
European Central Bank is also located in Frankfurt.
A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer,
who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been
working “day and night” to help companies and
workers deal with the economic impact of the pan-
demic.
“Today we have to assume that he was deeply
worried,” said Bouffier, a close ally of Chancellor An-
gela Merkel. “It’s precisely during this difficult time
that we would have needed someone like him," he
added.
Popular and well-respected, Schaefer had long
been touted as a possible successor to Bouffier. Like
Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel’s centre-right
CDU party. He leaves behind a wife and two chil-
dren.
 City
MumbaiMirror
City’s rich pockets are the worst-hit
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“With the help of the police, we are
ensuring people from the buildings,
bungalows, slums and chawls from
where positive cases have been
reported remain in self-isolation.
The civic body top brass
remained confident yesterday that
it wasn’t dealing with community
outbreak. “Most cases have a histo-
ry of international travel or being
in direct contact with those infect-
ed,” a senior BMC official said.
Health workers from K West
Ward gave an example of a 53-year-
old physician from Andheri, who
along with two members of his
family is undergoing treatment in a
private hospital. The doctor ran his
own clinic and consulted in two
hospitals. The BMC officials said
the doctor confessed to have car-
ried on examining patients even
after he developed mild symptoms
of coronavirus. “One of the hospi-
tals that the doctor visited has for-
warded names of 60 people to us.
We have launched contact-tracing
to find all those people the doctor
had come in contact with. Both
hospitals that he visited are being
fumigated,” Additional Municipal
BMC workers sprayed chemicals on the staircases, at the main entrance and the gates of the buildings
200 buildings in Kandivali
sprayed with disinfectants
The residents coordinated
with the BMC during the
weekend to spray chemicals
in the common areas such
as staircases
| Shashank.rao
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
T
he residents of Thakur
Complex in Kandivali (E)
undertook a massive drive
to spray disinfectants in
200 buildings. They coor-
dinated with the BMC during the
weekend, forming groups of 4 peo-
ple —two residents and two civic
workers — and visited every build-
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A
A fire brigade official sprays disinfectant in a lane in Andheri on Sunday
Commissioner (K West) Vishwas
Mote said.
Ameet Satam, the MLA from
Andheri West, said his team was
coordinating with the BMC to
make sure fumigation was carried
out at public places and residential
structures. “We are repeatedly tell-
ing citizens to not panic and
remain indoors,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sharad Ughade and
Prashant Gaikwad, the assistant
ing for spraying. It was part of the
measure to contain the outbreak of
Covid-19. The common areas such
as staircases, the main entrance
and the gates of the buildings were
sprayed with chemicals.
The workers carried 35 litres of
disinfectants. “This disinfectant has
been approved by the government
and we followed due procedure,”
said Sanjay Jaiswal, a resident and
member of Thakur Complex
Residents Association (TCRA).
However, a few residents com-
plained that the exercise was
unnecessary. Just because a few
people in the neighbourhood are
in self-quarantine doesn’t mean
that the entire locality has to be
sprayed with chemicals, they said.
K 9
SATYAJIT DESAI
municipal commissioners of G
South and D Ward respectively,
said rigorous contact-tracing and
disinfection operations were on.
“In G-South, we have a mix of
cases. There are cases from highris-
es where people have a travel histo-
ry or were in contact with those
infected. We also have cases from
chawls,” Ughade said. Gaikwad
added that a majority of cases in
his ward had a travel history.
In response to the complaint,
Sandip Ohri, member, TCRA, said,
“All we want to ensure is that we
have taken adequate precautions
in the face of the coronavirus
threat. This was not mandatory
and disinfectants were used in
only those societies which had
agreed to the plan. We also
ensured that there was no crowd-
ing during spraying,” said.
On Sunday, several societies of
the complex ensured that the
workers did not enter the build-
ings. The civic workers were fre-
quently reminded to maintain dis-
tance while spraying or walking on
the road. In a humanitarian ges-
ture, the societies provided refresh-
ments to the workers.
Monday, March 30, 2020
No liquor to drink, two people
commit suicide in Kerala
NATION
Frustrated at not being able to
get liquor due to the lockdown to
contain the spread of coronavirus,
two men ended their lives in
different parts of Kerala, police
said on Sunday.
Suneesh, 32, from Kodungaloor
in Thrissur district allegedly
committed suicide by drowning
in a nearby river while Noufal,
34, allegedly drank after-shave
lotion after he struggled with
withdrawal symptoms for last two
days.
“Suneesh was frustrated
over the non-availability of liquor
and was showing withdrawal
symptoms. The complaint says
he left home late in the night and
jumped into the river. His body
was recovered from Irinjalakuda,
in Thrissur district itself,” the
investigating officer said.
Noufal was admitted to hospital
in Alappuzha district after he felt
uneasy. “His family said he would
drink regularly since he returned
from abroad a year ago. He drank
the after-shave lotion after he
found it difficult to get liquor,”
Vallikunnam police said.
Earlier, a 38-year-old daily
wage labourer Sanoj had on Friday
committed suicide by hanging
Couple run Dubai balcony
marathon to beat coronavirus blues
WORLD
A South African couple who ran a
marathon on the balcony of their
Dubai apartment, streaming it
online, plan to take the project
global to help people shake off the
coronavirus blues.
Collin Allin, 41, and wife Hilda
covered the 42.2-kilometre (26-
mile) distance by running more
than 2,100 laps of their 20-metre
(yard) long balcony from dawn on
Saturday.
A stopwatch provided by
the couple shows they covered
the distance in five hours, nine
minutes and 39 seconds.
“We did it ...
#balconymarathon,” Allin said on
Instagram, congratulating his wife
on her first ever marathon and
thanking the virtual crowd that
cheered them on.
“Thank you for all the love and
support for doing something silly...
was great to have you all along for
the ride,” he said.
The couple’s 10-year-old daugh-
ter Geena acted as race director,
putting up signs marking “start”
and “turn around” and providing
her parents with water and snacks
as well as inspirational music.
Allin said he planned to
organise a “bigger, global and
more inclusive run next” where
people who are under lockdown
but keen to stretch their legs can
join for a few kilometres or more.
“This is about giving people
something else to think about,”
Allin told AFP. “It’s about getting
people to connect, as everyone
is worried about the impact of
himself from a tree near his
house, after showing withdrawal
symptoms, police had said.
The state government had
earlier informed that those who
have withdrawal symptoms due
to non-consumption of alcohol
could make use of the de-addiction
centres in the districts.
Liquor shops, including the
state-run Beverages Corporation
outlets in Kerala were closed
following the national lockdown.
Meanwhile, two more men had
committed suicide on Saturday
in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada
district for not getting liquor.
Tomy Thomas, 50, a rubber-
tapping labourer in an estate
at Kutrupadi village, was found
hanging at his rented house on
Saturday. Thomas, a native of
Kottayam in Kerala, had joined
work a month ago. Locals said he
was desperately moving around
in the last few days asking about
places where he can get liquor.
In another incident, a 70-year
old man, also called Thomas,
from Kodimbala village allegedly
hanged himself from the branch
of a tree. The deceased had left
his family here 30 years ago and
had been working in Kerala. He
had returned to the village only a
few years back.
— PTI
Collin Allin with his wife Hilda
and daughter Geena
coronavirus.”
The pandemic has wiped out
international sporting schedules
and triggered lockdowns that
have limited options for outdoor
exercise in many countries, but
enterprising people have found
ways to fit in a workout.
Elisha Nochomovitz, a 32-year-
old who lives near the French city
of Toulouse, ran a marathon on
his balcony which measures just
seven metres.
He reportedly managed the
feat in six hours and 48 minutes,
nearly double his best marathon
finish time.
The United Arab Emirates,
of which Dubai is a member, has
imposed a Thursday to Sunday
nightime lockdown to allow for
outdoors and public transport
sanitation operations.
With some 468 cases of the
novel coronavirus and two deaths,
it has also been promoting a “stay
home” campaign, a message lit up
on top of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the
world’s tallest tower. —Agencies
 City
MumbaiMirror
275 Indians evacuate from Iran
A fresh batch of 275 Indians stranded in Iran was evacuated on Sunday morning from Tehran to Delhi, and then
taken to the Indian Army’s wellness facility at Jodhpur Military Station. Low-cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet,
which have now offered their services for COVID-19 relief measures, flew the evacuees from Delhi to Jodhpur.
IndiGo accommodated 139 passengers, and SpiceJet flew 136 passengers. This is the first time that private
airlines were involved in transporting Indians evacuated from Iran. Earlier, 277 Indians were brought home on
March 25
20 coaches to be turned
into isolation wards
Each coach can accommodate 10 patients; separate cabins for docs, nurses
Shashank.Rao
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMIRROR
T
he railways will turn at least
20 coaches into makeshift
isolation wards for patients
with coronavirus in Mum-
bai.
According to railway sources,
these coaches will be kept at different
railway stations once they are
equipped with the necessary medical
facilities. The sources said that each
coach can accommodate at least 10
patients. The work on transforming
these coaches will begin early this
week at the Carriage Repair Work-
shop Lower Parel.
Sources said that the coaches will
be shunted into the workshop in a
day or two for converting them into
isolation wards. There are at least
three units inside the Lower Parel
workshop where these coaches can
be revamped. Each non-AC coach
will be opened up, the partitions in
the middle and excess seats/berths
will be removed.
VK Yadav, Chairman, Railway
Board, told Mumbai Mirror that if
need be, 20,000 coaches can be con-
verted into quarantine centres across
the country. “As part of our contin-
gency plan, we are also keeping Life-
line Express ready. We will also con-
vert the coaches into quarantine
wards wherever required,” said Ya-
K 10
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A
A prototype of the isolation ward inside a railway coach
dav.
For the patients, upper and lower
berths will be created. For ensuring
social distance, the partition and
seats will be removed, and 10 beds
created in each coach. “At both ends
of the coach, a pair of toilets and bath- who did not want to be named.
rooms will be created by modifying
the coaches,” said a railway official.
Sources said that the biggest issue
is bringing the employees to the
workshop as many of them stay in
far-off places. Many of the expert wel-
ders and craftsman stay in Vasai-Vi-
rar belt while a few live in south and
central Mumbai. Bringing them all
the way to the Lower Parel workshop
will be a tough task. “If there are 8-10 work will begin here in Mumbai,”
workers for a single coach, then we
are sure of completing the revamp
TEXT: SATISH NANDGANOKAR
within eight hours. There is also the
problem of availability and move-
ment of raw materials and access to
railway stores. If everything is in
place, then the work can be complet-
ed faster,” said a railway union leader,
The prototype of isolation coach-
es prepared by other railway zones
has cabins for the doctor and the
nurse as well as individual cabins for
the patients. In order to ensure that
meals are provided to those who are
kept in quarantine, the stock in the
pantry car is being checked.
“A prototype is being readied at
Bhavnagar workshop after which
said a senior Western Railway offi-
cial.
Monday, March 30, 2020
Quarantined woman dies
in Goa; test result awaited
CRPF deployed after police fail to stop panic-buying;
number of Covid-19 cases reaches five in the state
A
68-year-old woman, who was-
quarantined in the Goa Medical
College and Hospital (GMCH)
for possible exposure to novel corona-
virus, died on Sunday, but the test re-
sults of her samples are awaited.
State Health Minister Vishwajit
Rane said the deceased woman cannot
be called a COVID-19 patient yet as her
test reports are yet to come.
"She had been isolated because she
showed symptoms of coronavirus in-
fection. Her samples had been sent for
testing," he said.
The woman suffered from respira-
tory distress, diagnosed with COPD
(chronic obstructive pulmonary dis-
ease) infective exacerbation and was
shifted to the isolation ward, he said.
Meanwhile, as two more persons
tested positive for coronavirus in Goa,
the tally of such patients in the state re-
ached five on Sunday.
State Chief Minister Pramod Saw-
ant told this to reporters here.
"Two more persons, who had been
quarantined, have tested
positive for coronavi-
rus," he said. The first
three patients had tested
NATION
positive on Thursday, he
said. The fourth person
to test positive is a brother of one of
those first three patients, Sawant add-
ed.
"The fifth patient had quarantined
himself long back, which contained
the spread of infection from him," the
chief minister said.
Meanwhile, two battalions of Cen-
Man attacks volunteers
distributing food to the poor
The accused got angry after the volunteers
asked him not to roam around without a mask
Somendranath.Sharma
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMIRRO
P
olice in Nagpada, south Mum-
bai, have arrested a 20-year-old
man for allegedly attacking two
volunteers of a mandal with a knife
while they were distributing vada pav
to poor people during the lockdown.
The accused got angry after the volun-
teers asked him not to roam around
without a mask and offered to buy him
one. A similar incident took place in
Pydhonie recently when two men
were booked for allegedly attacking a
man with a sharp weapon while the
victim was distributing tea to needy
people.
The accused has been identified as
Ashok Sitaram Patel, a resident of 13th
Lane, Kamathipura, Nagpada.
According to the police, the com-
plainant in the case is one KC Kamble,
38, a businessman and resident of Ka-
mathipura. Kamble is part of a local
mandal that organises festival func-
tions. The mandal had decided to dis-
tribute vada pav on Friday to poor peo-
ple who were suffering due to the lock-
down. “While distributing vada pav to
needy people near Bori Chawl in Ka-
CRPF men patrol a street in Goa
tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were
deployed in Goa on Sunday, after
three days of panic-buying across the
state, which forced the police to use
force against shoppers crowding out-
side grocery stores.
"The CRPF will be given a free hand
to enforce the lockdown," Goa Chief
Minister Pramod Sawant said, even as
240 personnel of the
central paramilitary
force were picketed in
key populated areas in
Goa. Videos of CRPF per-
sonnel beating up peo-
ple on the streets on Sunday and in-
structing them to undergo corporal
punishment like frog-jumping have
already gone viral.
Over the last two days, the state po-
lice had to resort to baton-charging
people outside grocery stores in vari-
ous parts of the state. AGENCIES
mathipura, Kamble and other volun-
teers of his mandal spotted a man, lat-
er identified as Ashok Patel, who fre-
quently wandered the place without a
mask. Kamble told Patel not to roam
without a mask, to which Patel said
masks are not available in the area.
Kamble offered to buy him a mask and
this led to an argument between them.
Patel then left the spot after threaten-
ing to teach Kamble as lesson,” said an
officer from Nagpada police station.
After a few minutes Patel returned
and again started arguing with Kam-
ble and other volunteers. “Patel then
brandished a knife and attacked Kam-
ble and another volunteer, Asif Mo-
gul, 41. He tried to flee the spot but was
apprehended by other volunteers and
locals and handed over to the police.
The injured were taken to JJ Hospital,”
the officer said.
Patel has been booked and arrested
under Sections 324 (voluntarily caus-
ing hurt by dangerous weapons or
means), 326 (voluntarily causing
grievous hurt by dangerous weapons
or means) and 504 (intentional insult
with intent to provoke breach of the
peace) of the Indian Penal Code, and
sections of the Maharashtra Police
Act, the police said.
 City
K 11
MumbaiMirror
CORONAVIRUS OUTBRE A Monday, March 30, 2020

Three booked
Markets shut, vegetables for violating
lockdown
rot in the farms of Vasai
Nearly 2,000 marginal farmers are affected due to the lockdown as they have lost access to traders
advisory
| Somendranath.Sharma
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror

T
| Rahi.Gaikwad he Wadala Truck Terminal
@timesgroup.com (TT) police booked a man
for violating the lockdown
TWEETS @rahi_MIRROR
advisory to buy ice-cream and

T
he vegetables grown in Vasai, two others for trying to purchase
coveted by Mumbaikars for gutkha. The police have identi-
their freshness and quality, are fied them as Tabrez Siddiqui,
rotting in the fields and small Zubair Mansuri and Sachin
local growers are staring at Sharma, all residents of Wadala
mounting losses as the lockdown has and Antop Hill areas.
caused the local market economy to col- They have been booked under
lapse. section 188 (disobedience to
Farmers said they take their produce order duly promulgated by pub-
to the Holi bazar in Vasai where a host lic servant) of the Indian Penal
of traders and retailers buy in bulk. Code and section 51 (b) (punish-
“We only have local residents buy- ment for obstruction) of the
ing from us but that is just for Rs 20 or Disaster Management Act 2005.
so. That will not cover our cost,” said a According to an official, a
vegetable farmer Minal Pereira. Wadala TT police team was
Vasai has at least 2,000 small vegeta- patrolling the Shanti Nagar,
ble growers, each with half an acre of Sangam Nagar, Bharatiya Kamla
land or less, growing okra, eggplant, Nagar and Vijay Nagar areas on
beans, coriander, cauliflower and sever- Friday when they spotted the
al leafy vegetables. In one season, that three men. “Our police team
starts towards the end of January and came across a man who was wan-
continues till the rains, a farmer pro- With the local Holi bazar shut and trains not plying, farmers in Vasai stare at mounting losses dering on Salt Pan Road in
duces anywhere between 50 to 100 kg Bharatiya Kamla Nagar area.
of vegetables. When the police questioned
Onil Almeida of the Sukh Sampatti Steven Pereira He had spent Claret Pereira She has already him, he identified himself as
Sanvardhak Sahakari Society pointed Vegetable farmer Rs 50,000 in his Vegetable grower faced losses of Tabrez Siddiqui and said that he
out that many farmers would them- half-acre farm to Rs 6,000 in the was searching for an ice-cream
selves take their produce to Mumbai on grow a range of last five days and shop to buy some ice-cream,” an
the local train to sell. “We have written vegetables. Now, she fears that the officer said.
to the local administration that we during harvest, figure will keep The team found Zubair
should not depend on Mumbai and he finds there rising till June. Mansuri and Sachin Sharma in
create a market here, so that farmers do are no takers. “While I normally the same area looking for gutkha
not lose out,” he said. “Many of the make Rs 2,000 and tobacco. “None of these peo-
Not just vegetable growers, even traders we sell to to 3,000 a day, I ple had worn masks. They were
flower sellers, who would visit Dadar in bulk come from have lost double risking their lives by venturing
flower market regularly, are also in dire Mumbai. With the the amount in the out unnecessarily despite know-
straits. “The flowers are wilting and will trains shut, they last few days. The ing that city is under a lockdown
soon be overrun by insects. The losses are not around. small quantities due to the COVID-19 threat.”
are incalculable,” rued Subhash Bhatte, Others coming I sell to individual
one such flower grower from Virar, from neigh- customers will not
who commutes to the Dadar flower
market.
A former MLA and social worker
bouring states
have gone back
to their native
cover my input
costs. I am dispos-
ing of the rotting
Restaurant body
Vivek Pandit, who had come up with
the ‘Vasai fresh’ brand to create a mar-
places. We are
not allowed to sit
vegetables in the
field or using them
requests 3 month
ket for the local produce, said the Holi
bazar had a lot of produce coming from
at the market.
My vegetables
as cattle fodder. I
have thrown away
rent waiver
T
Nashik. “The small farmers who take are perishing,” batches of cauli- he beleaguered restaurant
their vegetables in baskets to sell on a he said. flower,” she said. industry has requested
daily basis are now left in the lurch.” landlords in the food and
beverage sector for their help and
support including a complete

WORLD NATION waiver of rentals and common

area maintenance for three
months up to June 2020 or till
such time that the business lock-
Iran warns of lengthy 450 newly recruited CAPF down on account of COVID-19

‘new way of life’ doctors asked to join immediately

outbreak continues.
“Due to the outbreak of
President Hassan Rouhani warned on Over 450 doctors recruited hospitals and quarantine centres COVID-19 and the subsequent
Sunday that “the new way of life” in Iran recently as medical officers in that have a combined strength of lockdown announced by the
was likely to be prolonged as its declared the Central Armed Police Forces more than 7,200 beds, ITBP Direc- government, our industry is
death toll from the novel coronavirus rose (CAPFs) have been asked to join tor General (DG) Surjeet Singh going through an unprecedented
to 2,640. The Islamic republic is one of service “immediately” as the forc- Deswal said. crisis that threatens our very
the countries worst-hit by the virus. “We es are ramping up their health- “Over 450 doctors who were existence. We are fighting a very
must prepare to live with this virus until a care setup to combat COVID-19, recruited as medical officers re- grim battle for our survival and
treatment or vaccine is discovered, which a top paramilitary officer said on cently have been called to join duty we seek your immediate sup-
has not yet happened to date,” President Sunday. immediately...with no loss of time. port,” the National Restaurant
Hassan Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting. Retired medical officers have They will enhance our strength in Association of India (NRAI) said
“The new way of life we have adopted” is been “alerted” and modalities are combating the situation arising in an open letter to the landlords
to everyone’s benefit, he said, adding that being worked on to hire doctors out of the coronavirus outbreak in in F&B business.
“these changes will likely have to stay in on contractual service to man the the country,” Deswal said. The restaurant industry seeks
place for some time.” chain of the forces’ countrywide — PTI your help, it added.
 City
MumbaiMirror
Positive SSC student’s contacts test negative
Relief for 35 students, nine teachers, who remain in home quarantine; they had come into his contact at exam centre
Rahi.Gaikwad
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMIRROR
T
he batch of 35 students and
nine teachers at an SSC exam
centre in south Mumbai, where
a student tested positive for Covid-19
last week, heaved a sigh of relief as
they all tested negative during the
screening process.
No student or teachers had been
infected, BMC education officer Ma-
hesh Palkar told Mirror.
IIT develops apps to
monitor corona cases
Navi Mumbai, Thane corporations also take recourse to apps to monitor patients
Rahi Gaikwad & Alka Dhupkar
mirrorfeedback @timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMIRROR
T
he fight against the corona-
virus is set to get a shot in the
arm with technology com-
ing to the aid of state agen-
cies. IIT-Bombay has devel-
oped two Covid-related apps and has
sent proposals to the BMC for their
possible use. Similarly, corporations
in Navi Mumbai and Thane have also
taken recourse to apps in order to
monitor patients.
An IIT team comprising Prof Ga-
nesh Ramakrishnan from the Depart-
ment of Computer Science and Engi-
neering (CSE) and Prof Manjesh Hana-
wal from the Department of Industrial
Engineering and Operations Research
(IEOR), along with some professionals
and experienced alumni, have devel-
oped the ‘CORONTINE’ application
to track potential/suspected (asymp-
tomatic) carriers. The app generates
alerts via SMS, email and other chan-
nels if users move out of the quaran-
tine zone. “The platform has different
features that can be customised. It also
allows for organising zones into re-
gions,” the institute said in a state-
ment.
Another app called ‘SAFE’, devel-
oped by a team comprising Prof Bhas-
karan Raman and Prof Kameswari
Chebrolu from the CSE department,
can check the adherence to quaran-
tine of a large group of people and also
track the trajectory of any person
moving out of it.
“SAFE works like class attendance.
You can track it every five minutes. Say
you have a thousand people in a build-
ing. You can track if someone leaves
the place. It can be done for a thousand
or 10,000 people. It’s a scalable model.
CORONTINE goes a step further and
can track if the person is meeting other
people. If the person is positive, they
might be carrying the infection and
infecting other people. We can find
out, other hot spots, which areas the
person visited, whom did they meet. It
needs GPS monitoring,” Milind Atrey,
dean, R&D, IIT-Bombay, told Mirror.
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
When contacted, the principal of
the south Mumbai school said she
tested negative.
“I was screened. I tested negative,
but I am in home quarantine. It was a
tense time,” she said.
The student had appeared for the
second-last SSC paper on March 21.
After he returned home, he devel-
oped symptoms and was taken to
Kasturba Hospital, and was admitted
the same day. His father, who had
travelled domestically, had tested
positive earlier and was admitted to
the hospital on March 19.
IIT-Bombay has sent proposals to the BMC for possible use of its apps
The platform has
different features that
can be customised. It
also allows for
organising zones into
regions
IIT Bombay
Atrey said while the proposal for
both the apps have been sent to the
civic body, researchers are waiting to
hear from the officials. “We need
them to come and take a look at the
software. If they need any customisa-
tion, that can be done in a day or two
and the professors are on campus. We
need their inputs. The professors can
train them,” he said.
Navi Mumbai and Panvel Munici-
pal Corporation have also started us-
ing two apps called ‘COVIGUARD’
and ‘COVICARE' to monitor people
quarantined at homes and to fill sur-
vey details.
Thane Municipal Corporation,
Kalyan, Dombivali, Bhiwandi and Ul-
hasnagar Municipal Corporations are
The incident sparked a
major scare as 353
students from nine
schools were assigned
the centre
The incident sparked a major
scare as 353 students from nine
schools were assigned the centre.
The school department and state
board officials swung into action, lo-
cating the names and addresses of all
the students, which they handed
over to the health department. Ward
also going to use these apps in the
coming days, said Vikas Aute, a devel-
oper who is offering this service to
NMMC free of cost.
NMMC commissioner Annasa-
heb Misal told Mumbai Mirror: "We
have more than 500 people who have
been asked to stay home because of
their travel history. If these people
have any doubts they can reach out to
us within no time through this app.
We have also provided a few links here
for them. We don’t just monitor the
home quarantine people… We also
take care of them by providing neces-
sary information and support.”
Health officers are visiting differ-
ent areas and preparing reports and
keeping tabs on people quarantined at
home. “Housing societies will be
asked to feed some information in
each column, which will save lot of
time. This app will also help to keep so-
cial distancing for health workers who
are working on field to get the statis-
tics,” Aute added.
“The information collected by the
corporation staff is going to be confi-
dential and patients can get interac-
tive facilities.”
Monday, March 30, 2020
officials then contacted everyone
and screened them.
Since the government had al-
ready postponed the last SSC paper,
there was no other contact between
him and other students.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the
long lockdown, teachers and schools
have been demanding the cancella-
tion of the last SSC paper.
“There is no telling when the sit-
uation will improve. The board any-
way considers the best of five subjects
to calculate the results. Skipping one
40-mark subject won’t make a differ-
NATION
Centre issues guidelines for
distribution of newspapers
T
he central government, in its
latest guidelines issued to
states on Sunday, has, among
other things, reiterated that the
newspaper delivery supply chain
must be allowed to function. It has
also allowed the transportation of all
goods, essential and non-essential.
The government clarified that the
entire supply chain of milk collec-
tion and distribution, including its
Expert: US could see
up to 200,000 deaths’
US cases top 130,000, over 2,300 deaths;
death every 6 minutes in New York State
T
he US will see 100,000 to
200,000 deaths from the coro-
navirus, the Trump adminis-
tration’s topmost infection disease
expert forecast on Sunday as the
pandemic infected nearly 125,000
people in the country.
National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases Director Antho-
ny Fauci said in an interview on CNN
that the US will certainly have “mil-
lions of cases” of COVID-19 and
more than 100,000
deaths. Fauci made
the scary prediction
as the COVID-19 in- WORLD
fections in the coun-
try neared 125,000
from 10,000 less than 10 days ago,
making the US the world's top hot-
spot.
“Looking at what we are seeing
now, I would say between 100,000-
200,00” deaths from coronavirus.
“We're going to have millions of
cases,” he said.
"But I don't want to be held to
that, because it's – excuse me –
deaths. I mean, we're going to have
millions of cases,” Fauci said.
The deadly disease is spreading
like wildfire in the US with the New
York City metropolitan area being
the hotspot accounting for nearly 50
per cent of the total cases in the
12
ence. They can either decide to take
the average of all subjects and assign
marks or reduce the base total to ex-
clude geography or double the histo-
ry marks. Already there is a strain on
administration and they would have
to deploy a battalion of staff for one
paper,” Jalindar Sarode, general sec-
retary, Shikshak Bharti, a teachers’
organisation, told Mirror.
Last Monday, Sarode even sent an
email to school education minister
Varsha Gaikwad with his suggesti-
ons. However, the state government
has yet to make an announcement.
packaging material, will be allowed.
The Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) has issued directions to dis-
trict authorities for strict implemen-
tation of measures to stop the move-
ment of migrants and providing
them with quarantine facilities,
shelters and food. It has also asked
authorities to ensure that the work-
ers are paid wages and not evicted by
their landlords. MMB
country. Fauci, a key member of the
White House Coronavirus Task
Force, said the spread of the deadly
virus that originated in Wuhan city
in China is unlikely to slowdown in
the coming days.
“But I just don't think that we re-
ally need to make a projection, when
it's such a moving target, that you
can so easily be wrong and mislead
people. "What we do know, is that
we got a serious problem in New
York, we have a serious
problem in New Or-
leans, and we're going
to be developing seri-
ous problems in other
areas,” Fauci said.
The U.S. coronavirus death toll
topped 2,300 on Sunday, after
deaths on Saturday more than dou-
bled from the level two days prior.
The United States has now recorded
more than 130,000 cases of CO-
VID-19, the disease caused by the vi-
rus, the most of any country in the
world. New York state reported near-
ly 60,000 cases and a total of 965
deaths on Sunday, up 237 in the past
24 hours with one person dying in
the state every six minutes. The
number of patients hospitalized is
slowing, doubling every six days in-
stead of every four, Governor An-
drew Cuomo said. AGENCIES
 City MumbaiMirror Monday, March 30, 2020 13

MUMBAI SPEAKS
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facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror and gets heard on this page

TAPTHECHATTER
STORYBEHINDTHEPHOTO where Mumbaikars speak their mind

How should the government

deal with quarantine
violators?

Dhanabalu Raju Naikar

Lecturer
Quarantine violators should be fined heftily.
If they are vehicle owners, their licences should
be suspended for one month.

Farida Lokhandwala
Educator
The government should fine violators,
book cases against them, impose a
three month jail term and put a stamp on
their hands.

Maya Hemant Bhatkar

Bank director
Quarantined violators should be fined
To drink or not to drink The picture was shared
by reader
heavily and lodged in hospital under
police security.
The signage in Marathi and English on this tanker are contradictory about the
water’s potability.
KV Premraj, Borivili East
Fatima Cyril Alvares
Retired teacher
If you have clicked a picture which tells the story of the people in the frame, mail it to us at mumbaispeaks@timesgroup.com
The government should detain quar-
antine violators in the isolated transit
camps and release them only when they
FACTS ARE
Garbage dumped
test negative for coronavirus.
IMPORTANT
BEWARE THE UNIVERSITY

on Mulund road is
OF WHATSAPP Cheryl Vanreyk
First ensure that people have reasonable access
to food at reasonable prices. The majority are
violating the quarantine in search for essentials
they can afford or for places serving free food

a health hazard now that prices are sky high.

Valencia Carvalho
If they are unable to provide any genuine and
Residents urge justifiable reason for violation, fine them heavily
and deactivate or invalidate all government-
BMC to clear issued KYC docs (passport, PAN, Aadhaar, etc)
issued to them for a certain span of time.
stretch

A
Mirror reader who requested
anonymity wrote in about a
road near the Arya Samaj Hall in
Deer herd
Mulund West being lined with did not sit @syrphiirii
garbage and construction waste. “It
poses a huge health hazard” he wrote. “It is
on Ooty- Heavy fines should be imposed and notices should
be stuck on their doors so that people remain in
inconveniencing residents in the area and Coimbatore quarantine .
devotees who visit the temple. The BMC has
been spreading the message of hygiene, but road amid @Jrushikesh4
such dumps are going unnoticed.”
The reader said the problem has
lockdown General awareness does not seem enough. Hence
legal action or fines must be levied.
persisted for months now and that Images of a herd of deer sitting
complaints to the authorities have been on a road are being circulated
ignored. with a claim that the photos were
The residents urged the authorities to taken on the Ooty-Coimbatore SPEAK TO US
clear the stretch immediately. The reader road amid the lockdown. A fact
check found the claim to be Which TV serial from the past do you
said the problem needs to be dealt with on want to see on Doordarshan now?
a priority basis because of the pandemic. untrue. The image was traced to
reports published by Japan Today If you want to be featured here, mail us your answer,
and SoraNews24 in 2014. Accord- with ‘Tap the Chatter’ as the subject. Mail us with
Send us your problem at ing to the reports, the image is your name, occupation and a picture at
mumbaispeaks@timesgroup.com from Nara Park in Japan, known mumbaispeaks@timesgroup.com.
for its deer population. The Japa- You can also share your views on Mumbai Mirror’s
with pictures and we will try and
official Facebook/Twitter handles.
ensure the authorities take action. nese signboard is another factor
that disproves the claim.

Nation
MODI ADDRESSES NATION IN MANN KI BAAT
No fuel crisis
PM seeks forgiveness in India: IOC
over ‘tough decisions’
Expresses confidence that India will win ‘life and death’ coronavirus battle
ANI
#NEWDELHI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
Sunday sought the nation's forgive-
ness for imposing a monumental
lockdown on the country, saying it
was a question of life and death and
expressed confidence that "we will
definitely win the battle" against the
coronavirus menace that has claimed
25 lives in India so far.
In his monthly Mann ki Baat radio
address to the nation, Modi also
praised the front-line workers in the
fight against the virus as well as
countless workers in the essential ser-
vices who are ensuring the country
doesn't come to a complete standstill
in the 21-day lockdown announced
on March 24.
"I seek forgiveness ... I strongly
feel, you will forgive me. When I see
my poor brothers and sisters, then I
definitely feel that they would say
what kind of prime minister is this
who has put us in this trouble. I spe-
cially seek their forgiveness. You had
to undergo problems. I understand
but there is no other way out to fight
the coronavirus for a country with a
population of 130 crore," he said. "But
this is a battle for life and death."
According to the Health Ministry
Update released an hour before Mo-
di's address, India has recorded a total
of 979 cases and 25 deaths so far.
The prime minister said looking
Woman dies in ambulance
as K’taka cops bar passage
She was being transported for better treatment
Galdwin.Emmanuel
@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
#THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
An ambulance carrying a critically ill
patient from Kasaragod to Mangalu-
ru was blocked by Karnataka police
and the locals, owing to the coronavi-
rus panic. It eventually resulted in the
death of the elderly patient.
The deceased has been identified
as 75-year-old Pathunhi. A native of a
village in Karnataka, the woman had
been staying with her grown-up chil-
dren in a village bordering Kasaragod
in Kerala so that she could avail their
help while undergoing treatment for
her renal problems.
Afte her condition deteriorated
on Saturday, an ambulance carried
her to a well-equipped hospital in
Mangaluru. While commuting, the
Karnataka police stopped the vehicle
at the Thalappady border checkpost,
further denying permissions to pro-
gress. The adamant cops did not yield
even after health officials’ interven-
tion, following which the ambulance
tried to take the patient to another
town in Karnataka. However, they
were stopped once again.
The ambulance with the patient
FIR against AAP MLA for ‘defaming’ UP CM- A case was filed
# following a complaint against Rajinder Nagar MLA Raghav Chadha for alleging on
Twitter that UP CM Yogi Adityanath was getting migrants returning from Delhi
due to the lockdown beaten up.
Modi also praised frontline workers
and the essential services sector
at what the world is going through,
this (lockdown) was the "only way
left." "After all, the safety of you and
your families has to be ensured. Once
again, I apologise for any inconve-
nience, any hardship caused to you,"
he said.
He also described as "unfortu-
nate" incidents where some of those
suspected coronavirus carriers under
home quarantine are being ill-treat-
ed or ostracised by others.
Modi also referred to "daily life he-
roes" who are helping people run
finally returned to Kasaragod where
she succumbed during wee hours of
Sunday.
This is not the only such occur-
rence over the week. Sources told Mir-
ror that a 60-year-old man suffering
from breathing problems died of
heart attack on Thursday night after
the attempt by his kin to take him to
Deralkatte Medical College went in
vain as the Karnataka police refused
them entry into the state.
On Friday, a woman from Patna
gave birth to a girl in a moving
ambulance after their vehicle was
sent back at the border at Talapady,
said sources.
These incidents have provoked
manifold reaction from politicians.
For instance, Kerala revenue minister
E Chandrasekharan on Sunday de-
manded the Karnataka government
ease its stance when it comes to criti-
cally ill patients. Kerala Chief Minis-
ter Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Friday
bringing to the latter’s attention the
action of the Karnataka police which
has resulted in blocking the Thalas-
sery-Coorg state highway. Vijayan
noted that the road connects Kerala
with Coorg in Karnataka via Veeraja-
pettah.
When I see my poor
brothers and sisters,
I definitely feel they
would say what kind
of prime minister is
this who has put us
in this trouble. I
specially seek their
forgiveness. You had to
undergo problems. I
understand but there
is no other way out to
fight the coronavirus
for a country with a
population of 130 crore.
But this is a battle for
life and death
their daily lives smoothly. These in-
clude plumbers, electricians, grocery
shop owners, e commerce delivery
personnel and those maintaining
telecom and internet services. He said
India has been able to fight a battle on
such a massive scale, only due to the
zeal and grit of front-line warriors
such as doctor, nurses, para-medic
personnel, Aasha and Anganwadi
workers and sanitation staff. PTI
Mega merger of state-run
banks in force on Apr 1: RBI
Bank officers earlier this week wrote to PM asking for deferment amid lockdown
#MUMBAI
The schemes for the merger of ten
state-run banks into four lenders are
coming into force from April1, accord-
ing to the Reserve Bank of India.
The banking regulator in separate
releases announced that branches of
merging banks will operate as of banks
in which these are amalgamated.
The government on March 4 had
notified the amalgamation schemes
for 10 state owned banks into four as
part of its consolidation plan to create
bigger size stronger banks in the public
sector. But bank officers' unions earlier
this week wrote to the prime minister
seeking to defer the merger schemes of
lenders due to the lockdown triggered
by coronavirus outbreak.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man on Thursday had clarified that
the mega bank consolidation plan was
very much on track and would take ef-
fect from April 1despite the onslaught
of coronavirus pandemic throwing
the country out of gear.
As per the scheme, Oriental Bank
of Commerce and United Bank of In-
dia will be merged into Punjab Nation-
Corp claims there is enough stock of petrol,
diesel and LPG available till beyond April
#NEWDELHI
India, the world’s third largest energy
consumer, has enough petrol, diesel
and cooking gas (LPG) in stocks to last
way beyond the three-week nation-
wide lockdown as all plants and sup-
ply locations are fully operational, In-
dian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman Sanjiv
Singh said.
Singh, who continued to oversee
the mammoth operations of ensuring
that fuel reaches every nook and cor-
ner despite bereavement of his father
on the day 21-day lockdown was de-
clared, said there is no shortage of any
fuel in the country and customers
should not resort to panic booking of
LPG refills.
“We have mapped demand for all
fuel for entire April and beyond. We
have refineries operating at levels
enough to meet all of the demand. Be-
sides all bulk storage points, LPG dis-
tributorships and petrol pumps are
functioning normally. There is abso-
lutely no shortage of any fuel,” he told
PTI.
The nationwide lockdown that has
shut businesses, suspended flights,
stopped trains and brought almost en-
tire vehicular movement to a halt, has
impacted fuel demand with petrol,
diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF)
showing negative growth (degrowth
or fall in demand).
With most cars and two-wheelers
going off the road, petrol demand has
fallen by 8 per cent in March while die-
sel demand has been down 16 per cent.
REUTERS
Branches of merging banks to work
as of banks absorbing them, said RBI
al Bank; Syndicate Bank into Canara
Bank; Allahabad Bank into Indian
Bank; and Andhra and Corporation
banks into Union Bank of India.
Under this, the branches of Orien-
tal Bank of Commerce and United
Bank of India will operate as branches
of Punjab National Bank from April 1,
2020, and branches of Syndicate Bank
as that of Canara Bank, the RBI said in
separate releases.
Allahabad Bank branches will op-
erate as those of Indian Bank while the
branches of Andhra Bank and Corpo-
ration Bank will function as the
branches of Union Bank of India from
14
MumbaiMirror
Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror
ATF demand has fallen by 20 per cent,
he said.
“LPG consumption however con-
tinues to grow and we are servicing all
customers,” he said adding refill de-
mand saw more than 200 per cent
jump as the lockdown was an-
nounced.
The refills sought were a result of
panic booking as in the absence of the
exhausting existing ones, many could
not take deliveries of new cylinders, he
said adding even customers with dou-
ble cylinder connections had ordered
for refills without exhausting even
one cylinder.
“There is absolutely no need for
panic booking. We have enough
stocks to meet all demand,” he said.
PTI
the beginning of next fiscal year 2020-
21, the RBI said.
"The Amalgamation of Oriental
Bank of Commerce and United Bank
of India into Punjab National Bank
Scheme, 2020 dated March 4, 2020, is-
sued by the Government of India...
The scheme comes into force on the
1st day of April 2020," RBI said.
Customers, including depositors
of merging banks will be treated as cus-
tomers of the banks in which these
banks have been merged with effect
from April 1, 2020, the RBO noted.
Banking services across the coun-
try are impacted due to the effect of
COVID-19 as a near shut down is being
observed across the country.
In a letter written to the Prime Min-
ister on March 25, the All India Bank
Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) said,
"The finance minister yesterday an-
nounced a slew of measures in view of
the deleterious effect of the contagion.
We are also expecting an extension of
closing related activities and the revi-
sion of the closing date itself from
March 31to June 30, which is the need
of the hour." PTI
 15
World
N Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles MumbaiMirror
#SEOUL North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East
Monday, March 30, 2020
# Sea on Sunday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Both were fired north-
eastward from eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 6.10 am within 20-sec interval
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
and flew around 230 km at max altitude of around 30 km. IANS @MumbaiMirror

Pope backs UN chief’s Saudi shoots down

missile over Riyadh
call for global ceasefire 2 wounded from falling missile debris in Riyadh
and Jizan; officials blame Yemen’s Houthi rebels
#RIYADH
Saudi air defences intercepted ballis-
AFP

Urges for focus on Covid-19; says the disease knows no boundaries
Pope Francis delivers weekly prayer on Sunday. It was streamed over the Internet from inside the Vatican
#VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis on Sunday backed a call by
United Nations Secretary-General An-
tonio Guterres for a global ceasefire so
the world can focus on fighting the co-
ronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at his weekly blessing, de-
livered from the official papal library in-
stead of St. Peter’s Square because of the
lockdown in Italy, Francis specifically
mentioned the appeal Guterres made
in a virtual news conference on Mon-
day.
Saying the disease knows no bor-
ders, Francis appealed to everyone to
“stop every form of bellicose hostility
and to favour the creation of corridors
for humanitarian help, diplomatic ef-
forts and attention to those who find
themselves in situations of great vulne-
rability”. More than 6,62,700 people
have been infected by the novel coro-
navirus across the world and 30,751ha-
ve died, according to a Reuters tally.
About a third of the deaths have be-
en in Italy, where the toll passed 10,000
on Saturday, a figure that made an ex-
tension of a national lockdown almost
tic missiles over Riyadh and a city on
REUTERS the Yemen border late on Saturday,
leaving at least two civilians woun-
ded in the capital that is under cur-
few in a bid to curb the spread of the
coronavirus.
Multiple explosions shook Riy-
adh in the attack, which the Saudi-
led military coalition blamed on Ye-
men’s Iran-aligned Huthi rebels who
have previously targeted Saudi cities
with missiles, rockets and drones.
It was the first major assault on It was the first major assault
Saudi Arabia since the Huthis offered on Saudi since Huthis offered
last September to halt attacks on the last September to halt attacks
kingdom after devastating twin stri-
kes on Saudi oil installations. blasts rocked the capital, which is
“Two ballistic missiles were laun- under a 15-hour coronavirus curfew,
ched towards Riyadh and Jizan,” the just before midnight. The assault co-
official Saudi Press Agency reported, mes despite a show of support on
citing the coalition fighting the re- Thursday by Yemen’s warring parti-
bels. Their interception sent shrap- es for a UN call for “an immediate
nel raining on residential neighbo- global ceasefire”.
urhoods in the cities, leaving two ci- The Yemen government con-
vilians injured in Riyadh, a civil de- demned the attack. Information Mi-
fence spokesman said in a separate nister Moammer al-Eryani said in a
statement released by SPA. tweet that the strikes also confirmed
UN chief appeals for ceasefire There was no immediate com-
ment from the rebels. At least three
the “continued flow of Iranian wea-
pons” to the Huthi militias. AFP
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had last Monday issued an
appeal for ceasefire. “The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war”, he
said. “That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in ELSEWHEREINTHEWORLD
all corners of the world. It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and
focus together on the true fight of our lives,” he said. Guterres issued his
ceasefire call in a bid to protect civilians in war-ravaged countries like NY presidential primary in June
Yemen and Syria —largely spared so far by the virus—whose barely #NEW YORK during the coronavirus outbreak. “I
functioning health care systems could not handle its spread. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo don't think it's wise to be bringing
said on Saturday that he was delay- people to one location to vote,” he
certain. Confirmed cases in Italy stood nish flu outbreak which killed an esti- ing the state's presidential primary said. The state already had another
at 92,472, the second-highest number mated 50 million people worldwide. from April to June, citing concerns primary scheduled for June 23 for
of cases in the world behind the United The United Nations has been trying about people gathering to vote congressional races.
States. to mediate an end to conflicts in count-
The Vatican, a 108-acre city-state
surrounded by Rome, has had six con-
ries including Syria, Yemen and Libya,
while also providing humanitarian as-
Mali heads to polls amid Covid crisis
firmed cases and on Saturday spokes- sistance to millions of civilians. #BAMAKO war-torn West African country
man Matteo Bruni said tests were carri- Guterres warned that in war-torn Malians headed to the polls on recorded its first coronavirus
ed out after a priest who lives in the pa- countries health systems have collap- Sunday for a long-delayed parlia- infection on Wednesday. Some
pal residence tested positive. sed and the small number of health pro- mentary election just hours after 200,000 people displaced by the
Bruni said the pope and his closest fessionals left were often targeted in the the country recorded its first near-daily violence in Mali's centre
aides did not have the disease. fighting. In his Sunday address, Francis coronavirus death and with the and north will not be able to vote,
The social effects of the pandemic also appealed to authorities to be sensi- leading opposition figure kidnapped because “no mechanism has been
have drawn comparisons with painful tive to the particular problem coronavi- and believed to be in the hands of established” for them to do so, a
periods such as World War Two, the rus poses in prisons around the world, jihadists. There were security fears government official said.
2008 financial crisis and the 1918 Spa- many of them overcrowded. REUTERS about the vote even before the AGENCIES

THAT’SWEIRD Penderecki: Classical avant-gardist H’wood loved

Greenland bans
booze over fears
of coronavirus
#COPENHAGEN
The sale of alcohol has been banned in
Greenland capital Nuuk in a bid to
reduce violence against children
during the period of confinement over
the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly one in three people living in the
autonomous Danish Arctic territory
suffered sexual abuse during child-
hood. Experts link the abuse to alcohol,
drugs and ignorance of childrens
rights. After Greenland closed down
schools from Monday with 10 cases of
the novel coronavirus diagnosed, a
rise in violence followed. The alcohol
ban is scheduled to last till April 15. AFP
One of 20th Century’s most influential composers, Polish composer died aged 86 in Krakow after illness
#WARSAW
Polish composer and conductor
Krzysztof Penderecki, who blazed a
trail in classical music with innovati-
ve religious and symphonic works,
died aged 86 on Sunday in his home
city of Krakow after a long illness, his
family told local media.
Venerated as one of the 20th Cen-
tury’s most influential composers,
Penderecki worked with symphony
orchestras across the world and won
fans among top film directors inclu-
ding Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorse-
se and David Lynch who commissio-
ned film scores.
His music appears in Kubrick’s
The Shining, Scorcese’s Shutter Is-
land, Lynch’s Twin Peaks and, more
recently, in an episode of TV show
Krzysztof Penderecki
Black Mirror.
A key figure of the 1960s avant-
garde, Penderecki remained respect-
ful of great religious and symphonic
traditions while blazing a trail in con-
temporary classical music.
Thanks to a temporary political
thaw in Poland’s communist regime
at the time, Penderecki’s works ma-
naged to break through the Iron Cur-
tain and achieve swift international
success.
The composer made use of unusu-
al intervals, tone clusters and glissan-
di and used the timbres of instru-
ments in innovative ways. Such tech-
niques featured in “Threnody to the
Victims of Hiroshima”, a 1960 work
for large string orchestra that won
much recognition.
Penderecki did not shy away from
unconventional effects: He used she-
et metal, whistles, pieces of glass and
metal rubbed with a file, rattles, elec-
tric sounds, saws, typewriters or
alarm bells to add sonic texture to
compositions.
He also invented music notation
symbols to match his original means
of expression.
Later, Penderecki gradually aban-
doned his avant-garde sound. Critici-
sed by some in the musical communi-
ty for backtracking, this evolution
won him applause among non-speci-
alists.
He returned to neo-tonal, post-
Romantic writing, with a content and
form more readily accessible to a lar-
ger audience. “My music remains the
same. Only the means (of expression)
have changed,” the Grammy-award
winning Penderecki said. AFP
 16
Sport
In his 1st or 2nd year in Indian team, I remember he said, he MumbaiMirror
wants to make 30lakhs from playing cricket so he can live Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
peacefully rest of his life in Ranchi facebook.com/themumbaimirror
-Wasim Jaffer on MS Dhoni @MumbaiMirror

Guj officials
INTERVIEW LAKSHYA SEN, BADMINTON PLAYER turn to tech to
impart training
All England show has given me Pranjal Protim Boruah
pranjal.boruah
@timesgroup.com

motivation to play in big events

TWEETS @pranjalPBMIRROR
While social media is abuzz with
what sports superstars are doing
during the lockdown, four football
officials in Gujarat are shaping a
revolution of their own.
Former FIFA assistant referee
Dinesh Nair has joined hands with
AIFF referee assessor Vishnu Singh
Chauhan and AIFF state-level refer-
ee assessor Amitpal Singh Tomar to
make use of technology to refresh
the laws of the game for referees.
“It was an idea that came to my
mind some time back. I was think-
ing what else I can do? How else can
I contribute?” Nair, the man be-
hind the idea, told Mirror. “I shared
the idea with Vishnu and Amit and
they encouraged me to go ahead.”
So how does it work? “It is like a
virtual classroom. We decided to
make good use of the technology
available as we cannot go out dur-
ing the lockdown period. We use
readily-available software and
hold classes,” Nair explained.
Amitpal, Nair’s colleague at the
Income-Tax department, added: “I
am associated with the veteran’s as-
sociation. I am very keen on bring-
ing former players back into the
game. I want to harness their expe-
rience. I see this as an opportunity.
“I also thought of bringing
Shakti (Singh Chauhan) in the
group. He is one of the most experi-
enced coaches in Gujarat and I
thought if he shares his knowledge,
it could benefit more people,”
Amitpal said.
Shakti, who had coaching expe-
rience with the erstwhile Delhi Dy-
namos ISL side and the Tata Foot-
Riddhiman Dutta son. Did you expect at that time the confidence to win Super 100 ball Academy, is impressed by the
riddhiman.dutta to end the year with five titles competitions. After that I won an- response. “It is a very important
@timesgroup.com under your belt? other Super 100 title also (SaarLor- move by them. I understand it is
After winning the first two tourna- Lux Open in Germany in October I am doing skipping, not a good time to go out. But
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
ments, I got a lot of confidence. Then 2019). So, I would say that the Dutch agility exercise, through this initiative, we keep
ourselves refreshed and ready

E
ighteen-year old Lakshya
Sen will not forget 2019 eas-
ily. India’s rising shuttler
clinched five titles last year,
which catapulted him into
the top-30 in the world rankings.
Even though he crashed out in the
second round on his debut in the re-
cent All England Open, the world No
27 Sen put on an impressive display in
his 17-21, 18-21 defeat to Danish star
Viktor Axelsen, the 2017 World
Champion. The teenager from Almo-
ra believes this experience will give
him the motivation to perform better
at such big tournaments in the future.
Sen spoke to Mirrorabout his break-
through season, his plans for 2020 and
how he is keeping himself fit at home
during the COVID-19 lockdown.
You won five titles last season.
What was the key factor behind
that brilliant season?
I played well in the last five tourna-
ments I took part in 2019. I was con-
sistent throughout those five tour-
naments and I pulled off some good
matches. That helped me in winning
those tournaments and I was having
great form during that period as well.
But you had to wait till Septem-
ber to win your first title last sea-
I had a good show in the remaining
three tournaments. But till Septem-
ber, I did not win a single tourna-
ment so I was not much confident
about my performance, but after
winning those first two tourna-
ments, I gained more confidence.
What was the turning point of
that season?
Winning my first Super 100 title (the
Dutch Open in October 2019) was
the turning point of the season
which gave me a lot of confidence to
play well in the upcoming cham-
pionships.
At a time when other Indian
shuttlers have failed to show
consistency, you have main-
tained your winning run. What
do you have to say about that?
I think everyone, like the seniors, are
taking part in bigger tournaments
and it was an Olympic year also, so it
is hard for players to perform and do
well in the events.
According to you, which one was
the toughest and most satisfying
among your title wins last year?
I think winning the Dutch Open was
most prestigious and that was my
first Super 100 title, so it provided me
Open was a pretty good title to win.
Tell us about your targets in
2020…
My first target is to stay safe and fight
coronavirus at this time and also to
stay indoors and remain fit during
this time. I do not know when the
BWF (Badminton World Federa-
tion) tournaments will start again.
We are not getting too many oppor-
tunities to play at this moment, so I
am just trying to keep myself fit.
Do you think you could have per-
formed better at the All En-
gland?
I think I played well in the All En-
gland Championships. The first
round was a good match which I
won. In the second round I lost to
Viktor Axelsen. I could have done
better in both the sets in the second
round. Those two sets went on to get
very close. In the first set it was 17-21
and in the second set, the scoreline
was 18-21. But I think I played well in
that tournament and it gave me the
motivation to play in big events like
that in the future.
How hopeful are you about qual-
ifying for the Olympics?
We really do not know about the
bodyweight workouts
which are possible at
home. I am also doing
some yoga in the
morning
-Lakshya Sen on his lockdown routine
Olympic qualification now. We will
only get to know when the BWF an-
nounces something. I do not know
what the qualification criteria will
be, because this year’s qualification
was almost done. Only four or five
tournaments were left. Now it has
been postponed, so I do not know
how this process will be taken for-
ward. We have to wait. Let us see
what they decide.
How are you keeping yourself fit
and prepared as no tournaments
are taking place currently and
everything seems uncertain due
to the COVID-19 outbreak?
I am doing some workouts at home
and doing skipping, agility exercise,
bodyweight workouts which are
possible at home. I am also doing
some yoga in the morning and try-
ing to stay home. Apart from these, I
am watching movies and playing
PlayStation 4. We cannot do much at
home, so it gets boring at times.
when the games begin,” Shakti, al-
so an AIFF coach educator, said.
“It is a good platform to share
our knowledge and experience in
terms of tactical nuances as well as
fitness. On my first day, it was nine
people and on the second day, it
was 19 people. I am surprised by the
response and it is coming from
across the country. We had former
India women coach Sajid Dar join
in to share his experience and our
efforts have been lauded by AIFF
coaching head Savio Madeira.”
For Chauhan, it was an invest-
ment for the future. “There are six
players from Gujarat who are part
of Project Future India (PFI), which
aims to train future officials. This
initiative will help them a lot and I
am happy to see their enthusiasm.”
Rachna Kamani, 20, one of the
three girls selected for PFI, said, “It
is a very good refresher course for
us. It prepares us for the PFI course
that was to start in June.”
Saloni Pandya, also in the PFI
list, said, “Lockdown turned out to
be a blessing in disguise for us as we
had very amazing discussions. I
never expected this but there is so
much to learn in terms of physical,
mental, theoretical preparedness.”
 Sport MumbaiMirror Monday, March 30, 2020 17

City cry foul, allege Arsenal had hand in having UEFA ban upheld
Simon Mullock
mirrorsports@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
Manchester City believe Arsenal are behind the
plot to have their European ban upheld if the Co-
vid-19 crisis prevents an appeal.
Eight Premier League clubs have written to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport to demand that Pep
Guardiola’s men should be excluded from either
the Champions League or Europa League next sea-
son. City bosses have information from a number
of trusted sources that the move was instigated by
the Gunners – and are also angry that runaway
league leaders Liverpool opted to join Manchester
United, Chelsea, Leicester, Wolves and Burnley in
an attempt to crank up the pressure on CAS.
Arsenal refused to comment on the suggestion
that they were the driving force behind the move.
But Sunday Mirror Sport understands that the
Gunners will tell the reigning champions that
their information is false if the Etihad club contact
them directly about the matter.
City have appealed the Lausanne-based body
after UEFA hit them with a two-year Euro suspen-
sion and £25million fine for breaking Financial
Fair Play regulations. City were braced for the ban
to be imposed – and began preparing the case for
their defence last year so that the matter could be
heard quickly to allow them to plan for next sea-
son. But the coronavirus pandemic means CAS are
now unlikely to be in a position to hear all the evi-
dence until late in the summer.
City could ask for the ban to be suspended so
that they can compete in Europe next season.
But with a £120million Champions League
place potentially up for grabs, their rivals felt the
need to make their feelings known to CAS as so-
called “interested parties.”
City were expecting seven of the eight clubs in-
volved to launch approach CAS for clarification on
the matter.
But Liverpool’s decision to become involved
has come as a disappointment given Jurgen
Klopp’s men have already secured a place in next
season’s Champions League.
Relations between the Etihad and Anfield have
been strained for years.
But the bad blood has been brewing between
City and Arsenal for even longer.
DAILY MIRROR
CORNERKICK
Ronaldo to forgo
90M euros in wages
#ROME
Cristiano Ronaldo and his Ju-
ventus teammates along with
coach Maurizio Sarri agreed to
forgo 90 million euros ($100
million) in wages to help the club
during the coronavirus crisis.
The club said the money
amounted to four months’
worth of wages, a third of play-
ers’ salaries. The first agree-
ment of its kind in Serie A since
play was halted three weeks ago
means Ronaldo, the highest-
paid player in the Italian league,
will give up 10 million euros (more
than $11million). Juventus
captain Giorgio Chiellini, who

Was the game

over the match-fixing scandal,
there was never any suggestion that
either club should be relegated.
And influential Liverpool owner
John McKenna successfully argued
has an economics degree, led
the negotiations with the club
and fellow players.
Ban on events to

ever clean?
in his role as Football League chair-
man that Chelsea should remain in extend in Italy
the top flight as the London club #ROME
had missed out on safety by just a Italy’s sports minister is plan-
single point. ning to extend the ban on games
Then came the stitch-up. Tot- and competitions in the country
tenham’s relegation was confirmed.
Simon Mullock
mirrorsports@timesgroup.com
Rewind a century, there were quite a And when a vote was taken to
through all of April. The current
nationwide lockdown is due to
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror few signs of suspicious activities decide which club would take their
place, it was North London rivals
expire on Friday but Italian
health experts have said the
in top-flight football Arsenal who topped the poll.

I
t was a scandal that rocked
English football a century ago.
Manchester United and
Liverpool were heavily in-
volved. So too were Arsenal
and Chelsea. Tottenham were the
big losers.
Five of football’s biggest clubs,
embroiled in match-fixing and
fraud.
And the kind of political mach-
inations that reared their ugly head
again during the week when it
emerged that the same famous
names have been allegedly collud-
ing to have Manchester City kicked
out of next season’s Champions
League.
At least at City, Sheikh Mansour
can comfort himself with knowing
that, as eight Premier League clubs
use a global health crisis to turn
against the cham-
pions, it is nothing
personal.
It’s strictly
business.
Just as it was
when the so-called
big five were at the
centre of another
carve-up back in
1919.
It began four
years earlier, during
the early months of
the First World War,
when football was
preparing to shut
down so that many of its players
could be sent to fight in the trenches
of Flanders and France.
When United beat Liverpool 2-0
in front of 18,000 at Old Trafford on
Easter Monday 1915, it was a victory
that was to eventually secure their
place in the top flight. But the game
had been fixed.
The United-Liverpool rivalry is
now one of the Premier League’s
global attractions.
But within days of this game,
one bookmaker offered a £50 re-
ward to anyone who could provide
evidence on how the sting had been
Sandy Turnbull (top, second row, third from right) with Man United
squad of 1911; former Arsenal chairman Sir Henry Norris (left,third
row, sixth from left); former Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman
organised.
United finished a point above
the relegation zone. Chelsea and
Spurs occupied the bottom two
places and would be in the second
division when peacetime came.
In December 1915, a Football
League commission ruled that
collusion between the players had
taken place for financial gain – and
The Gunners had finished a
lowly fifth in the Second Division in
1915, but chairman Sir Henry Norris
knew how to win friends and influ-
ence people.
He was a Conservative MP, a
high-ranking Freemason, and the
man who had taken Arsenal from
Woolwich to Highbury.
No evidence
Liverpool chairman McKenna also
happened to be a close associate.
Rumours that Norris had bribed
his way into the top flight have
never been proved.
But the Kennington-born prop-
erty developer was banned from
football in 1927 for making an
illegal financial approach to sign
Sunderland’s Charlie Buchan.
By then, Norris had appoint-
ed Herbert Chapman as manag-
er – and the Yorkshireman
would build Arsenal’s first great
team.
During the inter-war years, a
club that had never previously
lifted a trophy were champions
five times and won the FA Cup
twice. The Gunners have re-
mained in the top flight of
English football ever since.
But, 101years on, they are
once again relying on backroom
agreements to get them back to
the top table. Once again, they
are not alone.
Manchester City’s appeal
against the two-year European
ban handed down by UEFA over FFP
offences is unlikely to be heard until
the Covid-19 crisis is over.
But that hasn’t stopped the
eight were banned for life. Gunners joining United, Liverpool,
One of the guilty men was Sandy Tottenham, Chelsea, Wolves and
Turnbull, the United striker who Burnley from asking the Court of
was killed at the battle of Arras. Arbitration for Sport to ensure the
After the Armistice had been suspension is not delayed.
signed, a decision was taken to A Champions League place is up
extend the old First Division from for grabs, potentially worth
20 to 22 clubs. £120million.
With officials of both United And old habits die hard.
and Liverpool cleared of any blame DAILY MIRROR
need to try to contain COVID-19
will likely last weeks beyond
that. Minister Vincenzo Spadaf-
ora tells Italian daily La Repub-
blica that talks about restarting
the Serie A soccer league on May
3 are “unrealistic.” He adds:
“(On Monday) I will propose
extending the ban on sports
competitions at every level for
all of April. And I’ll extend the
measure to training — an area
where we hadn’t intervened
because there was still a possi-
bility of holding the Olympics.”
Spurs’s Son returns
to South Korea
#LONDON
Tottenham forward Son Heung-
min has been allowed to fly home
to South Korea for “personal
reasons”. Although Britain is on
lockdown due to the coro-
navirus, the Premier League
club on Sunday said Son has
been given permission to return
to Asia. The 27-year-old has
been recovering after suffering
a fractured arm during Totten-
ham’s win at Aston Villa on
February 16. It was reported Son
and his parents arrived in Seoul
on Sunday and will spend two
weeks in quarantine in line with
South Korean government
guidelines.
Neymar lends support
to help poor in Brazil
#RIO DE JANEIRO
Neymar has backed a campaign
to help underprivileged families
in Brazil cope with the coro-
navirus outbreak. Led by Brazi-
lian television personality
Luciano Huck, the initiative also
has the support of dual world
surfing champion Gabriel Medi-
na. “Solidarity must be more
contagious than the virus,”
Neymar said in a video.
 Sport MumbaiMirror
Steve Smith was the captain of the Australian team when the ball-tampering saga erupted during a Test match against South Africa in 2018
SMITH CAN, BUT WILL HE?
Former skipper’s two-year leadership ban ends, but it’s unlikely he would be given the role immediately
S
teve Smith’s two-year lea-
dership ban ended quietly
yesterday, leaving him eli-
gible again to captain Aust-
ralia at a time of uncertainty
over when international cricket will
resume.
Smith was stripped of the captain-
cy and banned from leading Australia
for two years over his involvement in
the 2018 ball tampering scandal in So-
uth Africa. His sentence ended Sunday
and he can again captain Australia if
called upon.
Australian players were due this
week to conclude a series of matches in
New Zealand and, for some, to join the
Indian Premier League. But it wasn't
clear Sunday if the IPL will take place
this year and when international mat-
ches will resume. Australia's schedu-
led mid-year tours to England and
Bangladesh are in doubt.
Smith told Channel Nine televi-
sion's Sports Sunday he is doing his
best to stay mentally and physically
fit, training in his home gym, going on
10 kilometer (6 mile) runs and practi-
sing the guitar.
“It’s obviously not looking likely
(the IPL will go ahead) at the mo-
ment,” Smith said. “I think there
might be some meetings over the next
few days to discuss what the go is with
it all.
“I’m just trying to stay physically
and mentally fit and fresh and, if it go-
es ahead at some point, then great.
Monday, March 30, 2020 18
Corona crisis
England
players set
for pay cuts
#DUBAI
England’s cricket players must “re-
alise the bigger picture” and will be
expected to take a pay cut as the co-
untry’s cricket governing body
(ECB) tries to deal with the financi-
al impact of the coronavirus pan-
demic, The Times reported on Sun-
day.
More than 662,700 people ha-
ve been infected by the novel coro-
navirus across the world and
30,751 have died, according to a
Reuters tally, and the outbreak has
brought global sport to a virtual
standstill.
England’s tour of Sri Lanka was
cancelled earlier this month and
the ECB announced no professio-
nal cricket will be played until the
end of May.
England’s home test series aga-
inst West Indies and Pakistan and
limited overs series with Australia
from June to August are also at risk
of being postponed or cancelled if
the situation does not improve, le-
ading to a further loss of revenue.
“We’re looking at everything
about how the game can make sa-
vings,” an ECB spokesman was qu-
oted as saying by The Times.
“There’s a formal process to go
through with centrally contracted
players but the game needs to pull
together at this time. We believe
the players realise the bigger pictu-
re.” English players on central
contracts have their salaries paid in
full by the ECB, who awarded 10
test contracts and 12 white-ball
contracts in September last year.
The Times reported players
such as Joe Root, Ben Stokes and
Jos Buttler — who play for England
in all three formats — would be ex-
pected to take pay cuts of approxi-
mately 200,000 pounds
($249,040) during the three-
month shutdown. AFP
Play with freedom: Clarke to Australian team during 2015 World Cup triumph
#MELBOURNE
Former Australian cricketer Michael Clarke
revealed his message to his teammates during the
2015 World Cup triumph saying that he asked the
superstars to play with freedom.
“My message throughout the whole tournament
was play with freedom,” Cricket.com.au quoted Clarke
as saying. “The thing about the squad we picked is we Jaffer picks Dhoni as
had so many superstars who wanted to be on the big captain of his
stage,” he added. all-time IPL team
On this day, five years ago, Clarke rallied his “There was a lot of big egos on the team and they
troops to a seven-wicket victory over New Zealand wanted the bigger game, bigger crowd, bigger mo- #NEW DELHI
which handed Australia its fifth World Cup title. ment,” Clarke said. “For me it was about our training Former Indian batsman Wasim
Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Josh and preparation being so important because then all Jaffer yesterday picked his
Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitch Marsh featured I wanted to do was allow these x-factor players - all-time IPL team and appointed
in the winning squad led by Clarke. Clarke said he Faulkner, Maxwell, Warner, Starc, Smith - these wicket-keeper batsman MS
wanted to allow those x-factor players to get on superstars to get on stage and show the world how Dhoni as its captain. Jaffer’s
stage and show the world how good they are. good they are, and that's what happened,” he added. team's feature opener Rohit
Sharma, current Indian skipper
Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik
And if not, there's plenty going on in Cape Town in 2018 when Cameron long leadership ban. Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and
the world at the moment. So just play Bancroft, with the knowledge of Meanwhile, Cricket Australia has pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven
it day by day.” Smith and his vice-captain David delayed the announcement of its an- domestic players. While the
It seems unlikely Smith will return Warner, used sandpaper to change the nual list of contracted players because foreign players spot have been
to the captaincy when cricket resu- condition of the ball. of the financial uncertainty caused by occupied by West Indies’
mes. Tim Paine is firmly established as Smith and Warner received one- the coronavirus outbreak. swashbuckling batsman Chris
Australia’s Test captain and at 35 is not year bans from international and CA had planned to bring forward Gayle, all-rounder Andre Rus-
immediately considering retirement. most domestic cricket and Bancroft the announcement from May to April sell, Afghanistan's spinner
Aaron Finch has captained Australia was banned for nine months. The to give more certainty to state cricket Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's
successfully in white ball cricket. scandal also resulted in the resigna- associations. But the announcement veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
The conclusion of Smith’s ban tion of coach Darren Lehmann and has now been delayed at least until the Indian all-rounder Ravindra
ends the period of upheaval in Austra- the departure of Cricket Australia's end of April with the agreement of the Jadeja has been picked as 12th
lian cricket that followed the ball tam- chief executive, James Sutherland. Australian Cricket Players' Associa- man by Jaffer. ANI
pering incident in the second test at Warner remains under a career- tion. AFP

Edit Page
RADHIKA
RAMASESHAN
keeps an
eagle eye on
all that’s hot in
The nowhere people
The Covid-19 catastrophe
the corridors
of power accentuates the predicament
of the migrants who sustain
the informal economies of
the host states but are
discarded in a crisis
T
o me, the defining images of the
Two months Covid-19 cataclysm compose a
ago, before quartet that contains two
the Delhi balancing narratives. The first
elections, spectre took me to Bergamo,
the migrants Italy’s death centre. The silence that
from east UP enveloped the medieval town in a video
and Bihar was broken in bits and pieces by the
were feted bandana-shrouded face of a woman who
and wooed barely got two sentences out. The second
as a big vote picture was that of the military recover-
bank by ing the bodies of senior citizens from a
every party Madrid retirement home that were left to
putrefy after the carers abandoned them.
Closer home, a few kilometres from my
home, the tragedy was personified by
different tropes: of hordes of people
fleeing their “homes” in Delhi because
they did not have water to drink and food
to eat. They were returning to their places
Write to
of origin as far as in Bihar and Uttar
Radhika Ramaseshan Pradesh. Five-year-old Pankaj sat put on
at mirrorfeedback his father’s shoulders, ready for a 700-km
@timesgroup.com tramp back to their village in Madhya
Pradesh, while Pankaj’s mother carried
their personal possessions on her head.
The fourth — and the most barbaric —
image depicted distraught young men,
on their way home, who were forced to
frogmarch on the Badaun highway in UP
by the cops for “violating” the curfew.
These scenes owed to the despair and
hopelessness induced by the C virus. If
the images from Europe exemplified a
collapse of its fabled social security appa-
ratuses and the welfare template, in India
| JUSTLIKETHAT
TALKBACK give the editor a piece of your mind
Silver lining amid The health ministry must look into
this and ensure protection of med-
mammoth crisis ical staff.”
In response to the cover story Seven-
Hills rises from the dust, March 29,
Raju Iyer wrote, “It is indeed Chouhan will put MP
encouraging to see the collaborative back on track
efforts of municipal authorities, Responding to the article Up the
state government and the private slippery slope, March 29,
sector in catering to patients. Simi- Vinod C Dixit wrote, “It is clear
lar initiatives need to be worked out that Shivraj Singh Chouhan has
to cope with the workload through- emerged as the best choice in Mad-
out the country. Survival is the hya Pradesh. For the CM, MP is all
foremost imperative of any living he has and MP is what he needs to
being and this common struggle guard. Chouhan, who has emerged
has brought us all together. Let us as the tallest leader in MP from the
jointly fight this gigantic crisis.” saffron pool, is also the longest
serving CM of the state, having
Protect the doctors served for over 13 years. Under his
leadership, the state became self-
and nurses sufficient in the power sector. His
Responding to the article Lack of focus on agriculture and welfare of
bodysuits for docs, nurses cripples the poor, apart from maintaining
hospitals, March 29, RM law and order, has earned him
Deshpande wrote, “The hospi- people’s trust. His 13-year rule has
tals, which have come forward to put MP on the development map of
combat COVID -19, are running
the country. With Chouhan back at
short of Personal Protective Equip- the helm, the state will again start
ment (PPE), and this is a matter of moving on a steady path of recov-
great concern. Along with saving ery.”
the lives of patients, it is also equally
important to ensure that the doc-
tors and nurses are protected from Migrant workers
exposure to infection. Therefore, are suffering
supply of PPE must be adequate. In response to the article Locked
The last few weeks have been anxious and
unsettling for everyone. We have to take time to
support each other — UK’s Prince William and Kate Middleton
The lockdown has led to an exodus of migrant workers from cities
the reverse migration reflected the in-
ability of certain states to contain forced
displacements (in many cases, the shift is
involuntary) and worse, the failure of the
host states to ensure a modicum of de-
cency and security for the migrants. To
cap it all, the Centre’s new Pradhan
Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, which
promised to roll out a package for the
migrants, cut no ice because, for instance,
the funds being sought for the construc-
tion workers’ (migrants monopolise this
sector) welfare corpus do not belong to
the Union government. In other words,
the onus shifts to the state governments
and they behaved in different ways.
Some compassionately, others callous to
the point of being brutal.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
baldly stated he didn’t want the migrants
back and there was no need to arrange for
buses to ferry them home. He warned
that if the virus spread in his state, it
would become difficult to control. This
from a leader who in his previous cam-
paign speeches held out the hope he
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
down and out, March 29,
Vinayaka M wrote, “Even after
the Delhi government’s efforts to
look after the destitute by convert-
ing schools into night shelters,
many stranded labourers rushed to
Anand Vihar bus terminal to reach
their home towns. This is primarily
due to the inability of the Delhi
government to advertise their
efforts when the anxiety of the
people over an indefinite lockdown
is mounting. This unpleasant
period which the nation is facing
will surely pass but the duration of it
will be decided by the citizens’
commitment to home quarantine.”
Md Nur Musaeed wrote, “Thou-
sands of migrant workers, left
without jobs, shelter or money after
the sudden announcement of
lockdown by PM Modi, thronged
bus terminals around the national
capital trying desperately to return
to their hometowns across the
border in UP and Bihar. The Cen-
tre’s sudden move has forced these
people to walk hundreds of kilo-
metres in searing heat. The govern-
ment should have thought it
through before announcing the
measure. Now it is up to the central
and state governments to ensure
that they get shelter and essential
commodities.”
19
MumbaiMirror
Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror
governments lost their credibility for the
migrants.
They are the nowhere people: Used,
abused and discarded by politicians. BL
Santhosh, the BJP general secretary —
who rapped Bernie Sanders for flagging
the Delhi communal violence during
Donald Trump’s Delhi sojourn —in-
sinuated that “someone” was “playing
mischief” to “defeat the very purpose” of
PM Modi’s 21-day lockdown. Balbir Punj,
a former BJP Rajya Sabha member, said
the migrants were using the “forced
chutti” to catch up with their families
and run errands back home.
To think, two months ago, before the
Delhi elections, the migrants, called the
Poorvanchalis from east UP and Bihar,
were feted and wooed as a big vote bank
would create enough jobs for the dom- by every party. The appointment of
iciles to stem their outflow. Nitish hasn’t Bhojpuri singer and actor, Manoj Tiwari,
given the unemployment doles he’d as the BJP’s Delhi president was a gesture
promised. to reach out to the migrants after being
Next was Yogi Adityanath, for whom rebuffed in 2015. The eight seats the BJP
empathy is an alien term. Soon as the won were in the migrant-heavy areas.
news of the reverse migration got viral, Not just that. The Poorvanchalis spear-
his supporters spread the word that the headed the attacks on the Muslims in the
travellers would carry the virus back and Delhi violence. Clearly, they were
should be shunned. ‘No Entry’ boards swayed more by the BJP’s discourse on
surfaced in parts of UP and vigilante the CAA and the Ram temple than Kej-
groups came up to thwart the migrants’ riwal’s stress on development and more
homecoming. Adityanath asked the development. The subtext for cultivating
chief ministers of the adopted states of the Poorvanchalis as a committed con-
the migrants to hold them back with stituency and not a grey vote was about
temporary shelters and food and his transmitting a signal to Bihar before this
Delhi counterpart, Arvind Kejriwal, year’s elections.
obliged. The latest developments might throw
But the fear of being thrown out by the BJP’s “nationalist” focus off balance.
their landlords for potentially defaulting Modi managed to convert the disruptive
on rent payment was too real to keep demonetisation into his version of a
them in Delhi, notwithstanding Kej- “class war”, an economic leveller that
riwal’s soup kitchens. The exodus began, impacted the deep pockets more ad-
and how! If we have to die, we’d rather die versely than the have-nots. In enforcing a
in our villages, was a refrain that mirrored lockdown, he might have just missed the
the cruel truth that the political class and plot.
MIRROR Ajit Ninan
ON TWITTER
@ Samee-
ra24661730
Really informative.
Had no idea there
was a story like
this. Thank you.
Also, the poor
citizen always
bears the brunt.
Whoever’s fault it
might be the
decisions of gov-
ernment make
people pay the
price (Five years in
a hotel room, MM,
March 29)
@ mustujn
Yes, good case
study on prepa-
redness of Mah-
arashtra govt
including BMC
(SevenHills rises
from the dust, MM,
March 29)
@ AllwynMichael
Where are funds
being utilized ?
Corruption in
#COVID-19 funds? WEBHITS
3 most-read articles on the Mirror site
Why can’t
@PMOIndia focus
on labourers and SevenHills rises from the dust
their families? If
not then this
#coronavirus will Many moods of mind-yoga
never get over.
(Locked down and
out, MM, March 29) Life during lockdown

Sci-Tech
Privacy rights may become
next coronavirus victim
Location tracking and other personal data may help quell the pandemic, but
activists warn of lasting harm to people’s privacy and digital rights
D
igital surveillance and
smartphone technology
may prove helpful in conta-
ining the coronavirus pan-
demic – but some activists
fear this could mean lasting harm to
privacy and digital rights.
From China to Singapore to Israel,
governments have ordered electronic
monitoring of their citizens’ move-
ments in an effort to limit contagion. In
Europe and the United States, techno-
logy firms have begun sharing “anony-
mised” smartphone data to better track
the outbreak.
These moves have prompted soul-
searching by privacy activists who ack-
nowledge the need for technology to
save lives while fretting over the poten-
tial for abuse.
“Governments around the world
are demanding extraordinary new sur-
veillance powers intended to contain
the virus’ spread,” the Electronic Fron-
tier Foundation said in an online post.
“Many would invade our privacy,
deter our free speech, and disparately
burden vulnerable groups of people.
Governments must show that such po-
wers would actually be effective, scien-
ce-based, necessary, and proportiona-
te.” The measures vary from place to
place.
Hong Kong ordered people arriving
from overseas to wear tracking brace-
lets, and Singapore has a team of dedi-
cated digital detectives monitoring
those living under quarantine.
Israel’s security agency Shin Bet has
begun using advanced technology and
telecom data to track civilians.
In perhaps the strictest move,
China gave people smartphone codes
displayed in green, yellow, and red,
determining where citizens can and
cannot go.
China is also among the countries
enhancing censorship about the crisis,
human rights watchdog Freedom Hou-
se said, while others are blocking websi-
tes or shutting off internet access.
“We have observed a number of
concerning signs that authoritarian re-
gimes are using COVID-19 as a pretext
to suppress independent speech, incre-
ase surveillance, and otherwise restrict
fundamental rights, going beyond
what is justified by public health ne-
eds,” said Michael Abramowitz, presi-
dent of the group.
Some activists cite the precedent of
the September 11, 2001 attacks, which
opened up the door to more invasive
surveillance in the name of national
security.
“There is a risk these tools will be
come normalised and continue even
after the pandemic slows,” said Darrell
West, who heads the Brookings
Institution’s Center for Technology In-
novation.
But even some digital privacy de-
fenders say it may be prudent to use so-
me of the available data to help control
the outbreak.
Some activists cite the
precedent of the
September 11, 2001
attacks in the US,
which opened up the
door to more invasive
surveillance in the
name of national
security
“I’m not against fighting this epide-
mic with data or tech,” said Ryan Calo,
a University of Washington researcher
affiliated with Stanford’s Center for In-
ternet and Society.
“The problem with implementing
surveillance in an emergency is that it
might acclimate people to that.”
Calo said it is a difficult trade-off,
noting that even the awareness of be-
ing tracked or monitored has an impact
on people’s feelings of privacy and per-
sonal security.
Much of the debate centres on
smartphone location tracking, a sensi-
tive issue which has been at the heart of
numerous privacy disputes.
Since the pandemic began several
ISRO to design ventilators, make hand sanitisers
Designing simple to operate ventilators and manufacturing of sanitisers,
» oxygen canisters and masks while putting on hold manufacture of rockets
is what Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), part of ISRO, is doing to
meet the emergency needs of the people, VSSC director S. Somanath said
apps have been developed which use
the technology to track the outbreak.
One from the Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology researchers deter-
mines if people have “crossed paths”
with an infected person – although it
would only work if it – for lack of a better
term – goes viral.
Cornell University researchers de-
veloped another app allowing users to
anonymously share their locations and
COVID-19 status to receive alerts about
other nearby cases.
New York-based technology firm
Unacast created a “social distancing
scorecard” which uses smartphone lo-
cations to determine the extent of re-
spect for recommendations for people
to maintain safe distances.
“It can be helpful to know if people
are practicing social distancing. That
can provide actionable information,”
Calo said.
But he maintained that crowdsour-
ced data on infections is likely to be
“riddled with inaccuracies” and could
give people a false sense of security.
A group of university researchers
has developed a preliminary version of
an app designed to allow people to
share data on location and infections
using smartphones’ Bluetooth techno-
logy without compromising personal
privacy.
“We designed it so that if a person
comes down with COVID there’s a way
to send an alert (to those in proximity)
without identifying who that person
is,” said Tina White, a Stanford gradua-
te student and co-founder of the Covid-
watch app.
White said she and other resear-
chers came up with the notion as an al-
ternative to “authoritarian” measures
being adopted in some parts of the
world.
She acknowledged the app would
only be as useful as the number of peo-
ple using it – but said the technology is
being made available freely, and sug-
gested that “Android and Apple could
use this an option in a system update”
to ensure wide adoption. AFP
Why COVID-19 became a
social media nightmare
Reminding people to consider the accuracy of
what they share is key to stemming fake news
about the pandemic, experts say
T
he biggest reputational risk Face-
book and other social media
companies had expected in
2020 was fake news surrounding the
US presidential election. Be it foreign
or domestic in origin, the misinfor-
mation threat seemed familiar, per-
haps even manageable.
The novel coronavirus, however,
has opened up an entirely different
problem: the life-endangering conse-
quences of supposed cures, mislea-
ding claims, snake-oil sales pitches
and conspiracy theories .
“There’s still a disconnect between
what people think is true and what pe-
ople are willing to share,” Professor
David Rand, a specialist in brain and
cognitive sciences at the MIT Sloan
School of Management, said, explai-
ning how a user’s bias toward content
he or she thinks will be liked or shared
typically dominates decision-making
when online.
Part of the reason is that social me-
dia algorithms are geared to appeal to
someone’s habits and interests: the
emphasis is on likability, not accura-
cy. Changing that would require Face-
book, Twitter and other such compa-
nies to alter what people see on screen.
Prompts urging users to consider
the accuracy of content they are sprea-
ding on social networks are needed,
said Rand, co-author of a study on CO-
VID-19 misinformation that was pub-
lished earlier this month.
Using controlled tests with more
than 1,600 participants, the study fo-
und that false claims were shared in
part simply because people failed to
think about whether the content was
reliable.
In a second test, when people were
reminded to consider the accuracy of
what they are going to share, their
level of truth awareness more than
doubled.
That approach – known as “accu-
racy nudge intervention” – from soci-
al media companies could limit the
spread of misinformation, the report
concluded.
“These are the kind of things that
make the concept of accuracy top of
the minds of people,” said Rand, no-
Social media algorithms are geared to appeal
to someone’s habits and interests: the
emphasis is on likability, not accuracy.
Changing that would require social media
companies to alter what people see on screen
20
MumbaiMirror
Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror
ting that news feeds are instead filled
by users’ own content and commerci-
al advertisements.
"There probably is a concern from
social networking companies about
accuracy warnings degrading the user
experience, because you’re exposing
users to content that they didn’t want
to see. But I hope by talking about this
more we’ll get them to take this serio-
usly and try it.”
What is undoubted is that misin-
formation about the novel coronavi-
rus has been deadly. Although US,
French and other scientists are wor-
king to expedite effective treatments,
false reports have appeared in nume-
rous countries.
In Iran, a fake remedy of ingesting
methanol has reportedly led to 300
deaths, and left many more sick.
Dr. Jason McKnight, assistant cli-
nical professor in the Department of
Primary Care and Population Health
at Texas A&M University, highlighted
two types of danger posed by inaccu-
rate information on the virus: that it
“could incite fear or panic,” and “the
potential for individuals to do harm-
ful things in hope of ‘curing the ill-
ness’ or ‘preventing’ the illness.”
Facebook has placed authoritative
coronavirus information at the top of
news feeds and intensified its efforts to
remove harmful content, including
through third-party fact checkers.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said
earlier this month that a public health
crisis is an easier arena than politics to
set policies and to take a harder line on
questionable content. However, a Fa-
cebook spokeswoman declined to
comment on the potential for adding
accuracy prompts to its platform.
A Twitter spokesman also did not
address whether the company might
consider using prompts.
“Our goal has been to make certain
everyone on our service has access to
credible, authoritative health infor-
mation,” he said. “We’ve shifted our
focus and priorities, working extensi-
vely with organisations like the WHO,
ministries of health in a number of co-
untries, and a breadth of public health
officials.” AFP
You
ASK THE
SEXPERT
DR MAHINDER WATSA
1 I used to suffer from
premature ejacula-
tion and would ejacu-
late within two minutes
while having sex. For the
past four months, I have
been taking Sildenafil
and Dapoxetine and I am
happy with the medication
because I am able to have
intercourse for 40 to 45
minutes. I really enjoy my
sex life with my wife. We
have sex once a week. Can
Sildenafil and Dapoxetine
affect fertility in any way?
Sildenafil and Dapoxetine are
not known to have adverse
effects on sperm function or
ejaculate quality. The dosage
you are taking can be reduced
to 25 mg, which has been
found to be effective as well.
It is best that you get your
spermatic fluid test done
since you plan to have a baby
in the near future. Both you
and your wife should ideally
visit a gynaecologist. The doc-
tor will advise you on steps to
be taken before you are ready
to conceive.
2 I am a 26-year-old
man and I am
considering having sex
with a prostitute. But
because of the Covid-19
scare, I am afraid to do so.
Is it safe to have sex with
unknown women at this
point in time?
It is never safe to have sex
with an unknown partner.
All precautions should be
taken. Certainly because of
the coronavirus, you should
lie low and forget about any
close contact with strangers.
3 I got married recently.
My wife is 22 years old,
and has had sex with sev-
eral men before marriage.
She has terminated two
pregnancies before
marriage, too. Would her
uterus be healthy? Can she
get pregnant?
I suggest that you and your
wife visit a gynaecologist,
who will be able to guide you
towards a healthy pregnancy.
An examination and a few
tests will determine how
healthy you both are. Follow
the doctor’s advice.
SEND YOUR QUERIES TO
Ask the Sexpert, Mumbai Mirror,
Times Of India Building, Dr D N Road,
Mumbai 400001 or email at
drwatsa@timesgroup.com.
Contact Dr Watsa, send an email to
mcwatsa@hotmail.com
HEALTH TIP: Including tomatoes in
# your diet increases the bioavailability of
iron, which is vital for pregnant women
The extra time at home affords a greater opportunity to strengthen relationships and family ties
Getting through
WFH together
As couples work from home during the lockdown, here’s how some are
bolstering their relationships, while also staying productive
| Nasrin Modak Siddiqi
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
M
ost are still struggling to
come to terms with the
concept of WFH (work
from home) in the
light of the pandemic
that warrants staying indoors and
maintaining social isolation to
contain the threat of Covid-19. And
while the concept of working from
home may seem ideal, sitting in on
those high-pressure conference calls
with your spouse in the same room
could get tricky. Also, how does one
navigate the multiple distractions
that come in the way of getting
work done? Here are things couples
who managed to stay productive
while working from home learnt
from their experience:
A peek into your
partner’s job
Urvashi Anand and her husband
Ramkumar Sundaram have been
colleagues for the last several years.
When the software firm they work
for announced a 30-day work from
home plan for all employees, they
saffron, delays age-related
retinal degeneration
were faced with a unique situation.
They were required to complete
their office-related chores from
home, while sharing the same
space. “We have deliverables and
this isn’t a vacation,” says Anand,
who feels this experience has
helped her better understand her
partner and how
his work day
pans out.
“We are only
Safranal, a constituent of
now getting to see what our respec-
tive roles [within the company]
entail and what keeps us busy on
most days,” she says. “This experi-
ence has given us greater insight
into each other’s work lives and
that’s useful because our work hours
take up most of our days. It has also
made us more compassionate
towards each other. We will now be
more considerate of each other
when we get back to working
from the office as well,”
adds Anand.
Share the load
Like in the case of most,
Anand and Sundaram’s
cook and domestic
worker are both on
leave, which means
they have to com-
plete household
chores them-
MumbaiMirror 21
Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror
selves. “We decided to share the
domestic duties,” says Anand, who
didn’t want to rigidly split the
chores down the middle.
“Sometimes, I cook and he does the
dishes. If I load the washing
machine, he folds the laundry. I
sweep the floor and he mops it. We
work ad-hoc — and we make it a
point to put on some music while
doing these tasks,” says Anand, add-
ing that one can make mundane
chores seem fun this way.
Plan time outs
Working from home saved one a
significant amount of travel time
each day. This allows one to plan
one’s work day while accommodat-
ing for breaks which are essential to
staying productive.
“You also save the time you’d
spend to get ready for work,” says
Anand, who has been careful to uti-
lise the saved time well. “We are
planning to have a barbecue and
play board games,” says Sundaram.
Get fit, together
Thane couple Aniket and Shradha
Likhite have been using their home
isolation period to diligently
exercise together. “The morning
rush to get to work often prevented
us from working out together,”
says Shradha. Prior to the govern-
ment-imposed quarantine, Aniket
would workout in the morning,
while Shraddha would only get
around to it by the afternoon. But
now, the couple has synced their
workout schedules.
“We do cross fit training includ-
ing squats, lunges, planks and
surya namaskar together — it’s fun
and we also share tips. Working out
in each other’s company is also less
stressful,” says Shradha.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
 You MumbaiMirror Monday, March 30, 2020 22

Keep calm during

Covid-19 pandemic
How to avoid feeling anxious, if social distancing is getting
to you, and the WhatsApp forwards are too stressful

| Deepali Singh ways to combat anxiety and chan- Dr Manoj Kutteri

mirrorfeedback nel energies correctly: provides tips for
@timesgroup.com mental wellness
TWEETS @MumbaiMirror
Don’t believe
everything you read

J
ust a few days ago, this An overload of information adds
writer was at a grocery to one’s stress levels. “We have so
store to shop for ingre- much free time now that we tend
dients to put together a to read almost everything that
simple dinner. Most customers comes up on our social media
were panic shopping for house- feed. But, one of the main ways to
hold essentials. Just then, a reduce anxiety is by limiting what
friendly neighbour took a peek at we read. Awareness is the key at
my sparsely-filled shopping basket the moment,” says Dr Manoj
and asked, “Aren’t you stocking Kutteri, wellness director at
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 now, has started sharing his sessions up?” All it took was those four Atmantan Wellness Centre.
with Shradha. “I am enjoying this words and I was left uncertain.
new craze with him, and he joins me A quick scroll through the 1 Limit the amount of
Playtime with kids in my hobby of gardening. Our messages on my family WhatsApp information you con-
Aniket has a high-pressure job in plants are being showered with some group and I was convinced sume on social media
cyber-security and working from extra TLC,” says Shradha. Singh, too, the world was coming to an and only rely on
home has been testing for him and has been building a little balcony end. By the time I reached home, trustworthy sources.
his team. But the Likhites have garden with her husband and is I was a nervous wreck. Was my 2 Get on the phone
assigned their lunch hour and the excited about planting new dahlias. anxiety unwarranted? Perhaps, with friends and
time saved in travel to play with their not. But could I have dealt with it colleagues to update
daughter Asmi. “She waits for me to Rearrange better? Certainly. them on your day or
finish my calls and lays out a new While everyone is talking share a joke.
game each day — carrom, cards, and de-clutter about all the measures that one 3 For those who can’t
board games and on some days, it is Anand and Sundaram have been needs to take to steer clear of the skip daily exercise,
just sketching,” says Aniket. planning to remodel their home for a disease, few are taking any steps opt for high intensity
while but never got to it. During this towards looking after their mental Too little, too much? interval training or
Share a cup of tea isolation phase, they plan to begin health. “Over the last few days, Dr Chavda says: “Recently, some- on-the-spot jogging.
For most working couples, shar- the process by rearranging their there has been a surge in the num- one told me that they were plan- 4 You can also opt for
ing a cup of tea may seem furniture. “Sometimes, it is ber of patients calling in to say ning to head to the beach. This is indoor board games
like a luxury and an just better to get out of that they are anxious about the not the time to be foolhardy. At such as Monopoly or
interruption from their This is a your comfort zone and state of affairs. It was a trickle the same time, one shouldn’t be carrom. Not only do
busy schedules. But great time to do things differently. which has now become an ava- fatalistic and believe that ‘we are they stimulate the
that’s something re-examine your Rearranging furni- lanche,” says Dr Kersi Chavda, all going to die’,” he says. brain cells, they also
that Aishwarya ture is a small step consultant psychiatry, PD Hinduja “If the only conversation you serve as a positive
Singh and her hus- finances and towards bringing Hospital and MRC. “Psychiatry are having from morning till distraction.
band Vaibhav investments about that change,” will play a major role now,” he night is about this situation, it’s 5 If you are low on im-
Nigam seem to and consider says Ramkumar. adds, speaking of the psychologi- bound to affect you. People are munity and suscep-
cherish the most. And while shuffling cal support that is essential dur- still having fun, eating and and tible to allergies, you
diversifying your ing such times.
While their work your stuff around, it exercising. Life still goes on. Take will be more prone to
pressure has been on portfolios may be a good idea to They say man is a social being, all the precautions but don’t go getting anxious about
even while working from set aside the things that and indeed, spending time with overboard. And if you do have a getting infected by
home, they appreciate the have lost their utility over friends is a proven remedy for pro- psychological issue, or a tendency coronavirus. A diet
time they get to spend together. time and do little more than moting mental health. But social towards it, visit a psychiatrist to rich in vitamins and
“Despite the stress, it’s still better hoard up space in your home. The distancing and the shutdown of get an evaluation. You do minerals is recom-
than regular office days,” says Singh, Likhites, for instance, have filled up a malls, theatres and gyms has sure- not have to suffer,” he says. mended in order to
who believes that she’s been able to ‘donation box’ and are looking for ly taken a toll on our mental boost your immu-
have more “meaningful conversa- causes they’d like to contribute to. well-being. So, here are nity. Fruits, nuts and
tions” with her husband over tea “Our donation box is filled with spices like turmeric,
during this work-from-home phase. things we’d like to pass on to those in ginger, tulsi and cin-
“Earlier, we’d barely get to see each need,” says Aniket. namon should also be
other on weekdays; and weekends included in your diet.
were spent eating out and meeting Re-examine finances
friends. Now, we get to talk and
share more,” says Singh.

Journal your
memories
Singh and Nigam have also started
scrapbooking, an activity they’ve
always wanted to pursue but never
found the time for. “We always want-
ed to document our special moments
and travel memories. Being home-
bound has given us the mindspace to
execute this. It may seem frivolous,
but in the last four years of our
marriage, we’ve been hustling This is a great time to re-examine
through life and getting to do some- your finances and investments and The overload of
thing you’ve always wanted to, is consider diversifying your portfolios information —
gratifying,” says Nigam. if needed. Sundaram says, “This much of it either
doesn’t mean you invest needlessly. In speculation or
Pursue a hobby a falling stock market, the price of exaggeration —
Aniket, who has been learning to shares may tempt you to buy. But adds to the
play the drum as a hobby for a year exercise caution.” stress levels
 23
Movies
MumbaiMirror
Monday, March 30, 2020
24 Keeping it stylish with Dia Mirza mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
@MumbaiMirror
Entertainment Industry Promotion

B-Town springs into action

Contributions for coronavirus relief work pouring in through cash as well as charities, anonymous benefactors
| Himesh.Mankad @timesgroup.com friend, Jay Patel, to donate Rs 1 crore to the Industry hasn’t donated
PM’s fund while Arjun Bijlani contributed Rs 5
TWEETS @HimeshMirror
lakh each to both funds, with anchor-actor even Rs 10 lakh to the
federation... Salman asked

T
he film fraternity, which came to a
standstill after all work was halted due
to the coronavirus outbreak, has come
forward to contribute to the relief work.
Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik Roshan was among the first to
announce that he had procured N95 and
FFP3 masks in plenty for BMC workers
and other caretakers in Maharashtra. He
was followed by actor-comedian Kapil
Sharma, who contributed Rs 50 lakh to
the PM Relief Fund on March 26, leading
the way in monetary donations. CORONAVIRUS
Kapil Sharma On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi requested citizens to donate to the
OUTBREAK
PM-CARES fund to strengthen the country’s dis-
aster management capacity. Instantly, Akshay
Kumar responded with a cheque of Rs 25 crore.
“This is that time when all that matters is the
lives of our people. And we need to do anything
and everything it takes,” the actor asserted. With
the mantra, “We will overcome this,” Varun
Murad Khetani Dhawan has chipped in with Rs 25 lakh to the
CM Relief Fund and Rs 30 lakh to the
PM-CARES fund.
Soon after, Bhushan Kumar
pledged Rs 11 crore to the
PM-CARES fund and Rs 1 crore
to the CM Relief Fund. The pro-
ducer hoped “to get through
the difficult time soon” and
Guru Randhawa meanwhile urged everyone to
stay at home. Kabir Singh produc-
er, Murad Khetani, divided Rs
50 lakh equally
between the two
funds.
Randeep
Hooda part-
nered with his
Arjun Bijlani entrepreneur-
Maniesh Paul pooling in with Rs 20 lakh.
Musician Guru Randhawa has also pledged Rs
20 lakh to the PM-CARES fund.
Mirror has also learnt that Salman Khan will
support 25,000 daily wage artists of the
Federation of Western India Cine
Employees (FWICE) whose liveli-
hood has been affected since the
lock-down. “We have given a
list of names to Salman and he
for account details of 25,000
workers —BN Tiwari, President, FWICE
will directly transfer the amount to their bank
accounts. The industry has not donated even Rs Varun Dhawan
10 lakh to the Federation while this man has
asked for the account details of 25,000 daily
wage workers,” shared B N Tiwari, president of
the FWICE. “We reached out to several actors,
but only Salman responded. His foundation,
Being Human, has always taken care of the
industry workers though no one knows of it.”
Suniel Shetty and his daughter Athiya’s NGO,
Save The Children India, has worked on sourc-
ing ration and hygiene material from local ven-
dors and direct cash transfer for survivors of traf- The Shettys
ficking as well as the families of disabled chil-
dren. Now, the duo is working towards com-
munity-level behavioural change to
encourage hand-washing, social distanc-
ing and sneezing/coughing etiquette.
“We will have to remain responsive as
the situation evolves to ensure that we
are aligned with government and medi-
cal directives,” Suniel asserted.
Yami Gautam, while supporting the
cause, has urged everyone to not com- Randeep Hooda
pare the good deeds of celebs. “Who
donated how much doesn’t matter, it’s
the intention that counts. I learnt in
school, if your right hand makes a chari-
ty, your left hand shouldn’t know about
it,” she said, adding that in desperate times,
one comes in the public eye to encourage
people to do the same. “We’re in this together.”
Left to right: Bhushan Kumar, Akshay
Maniesh Paul
Kumar, Salman Khan

‘We have our | Avinash.Lohana Like many B-townies, the

@timesgroup.com actress has developed an interest
in cooking and has been experi-
TWEETS @Avinash_Mirror
menting with pav bhaji with her

own little M
ouni Roy, who is at
her sister’s residence in
Dubai, admits that it’s
probably the scariest
brother-in-law’s recipe, pastas
and pizzas with homegrown veg-
etables, and even tiramisu. “We
have our own little farm here

farm here’
Currently in Dubai with her sister,
time that the world has been
through. The actress goes on to
assert that it’s important people
find ways to be productive dur-
ing the coronavirus-induced
lockdown. “I’m avoiding TV and
Mouni Roy is keeping busy with cooking, streaming services as watching
painting, helping nephews with studies shows makes me lazy,” she says,
acknowledging that being a
workaholic, she was initially rest-
less, but has now found a new
routine that keeps her busy.
She has two young nephews,
Shivaansh and Krishav, who are
taking school lessons online and
their ‘Mo maasi’ helps out with
reading, painting and English.
“We’ve just finished reading The
Jungle Book and Alice In
Wonderland, now, we’re on
Gulliver’s Travels. I spend almost
two hours a day helping them
with their homework, their art
and crafts, even dictation. Mo
maasi is their favourite now,
which she should be,” Mouni
Mouni Roy’s trilogy of Lord Shiva paintings laughs over the phone.
and grow pudina, tomatoes and
coriander,” she informs.
Besides helping with chores
around the house, she also
makes time for meditation,
painting and reading. “I’m cur-
rently reading Michelle Obama’s
Becoming and re-reading
Paramhansa Yogananda’s The
Autobiography of a Yogi.
Whenever I feel exasperated, I go
back to that book and it calms
me down. I have also completed
my three-painting series of Lord
Shiva,” shares the actress, admit-
ting that she’s missing acting,
dancing and film sets. “I’m in
touch with my co-stars and
friends through video calls and
messages on WhatsApp groups.
I’ve never felt so close to my
people before. Earlier, there was
a constant effort to know what’s
happening in each other’s life,
but now, you’re only focused on
who and what is important
to you.” Picking cherry tomatoes
Movies MumbaiMirror Tuesday,
Monday, August
March 30,
20, 2020
2019
29
24
KEEPING IT „ THEIA TEKCHANDANEY ON DIA MIRZA

STYLISH Fashion experts on keeping stars at the top of their sartorial game

Think global, go local

M
y first collaboration with
Dia Mirza was for the film
Ek Ajnabee, which eventu-
ally didn’t happen. But we
bonded while discussing
her look and I’ve been styl-
ing her for 16 years now. We sense each
other’s vibe and hardly disagree on things.
Dia is not fussy when it comes to
clothes; as long as it aligns with her phi-
losophy and mood, she is fine. We usual-
ly take stock of events of the month in
advance and approach designers to check
TIMELESS BLUE This outfit is
all about Dia’s timeless sense
of style. The rich colour
resonates with the strong,
modern Indian woman and
worked really well on an
international platform
if they have something for the occasion. stand-out ensembles. For Thappad pro-
We try not to repeat the same designer in motions, the idea was to stick to sarees
a month. and play with its versatility.
Styling Dia is different in that she I quickly understood that a dress was
does a lot of social work. She can’t go to a the easiest thing for her to wear. But I got
charity event looking all glam because her to try trousers, pants and even jeans.
she’s doing actual work there—playing She has tried edgier stuff for photoshoots
with children, teaching them, cleaning and we push the envelope for award
up beaches etc. Practicality and com- shows. But she is not into
fort come first. But, in the times of the fashion for fashion’s
’gram, how an attire looks matters, too. sake. Softer, feminine
You can’t keep repeating a colour, for silhouettes, pastel
instance. Fortunately, all hues work on colours and whites
Dia. Of course, white is our go-to colour. are distinctly Dia
For Dia, the fabric matters the most and taking that
and we go with natural, eco-friendly away from her
materials that breathe. We also try to use makes no sense.
local designers as much as possible. It —As told to
supports them and we end up with Ankita Chaurasia

SPRING’S HERE
Dia effort-
lessly slipped into
character for a
show with this
salwar-kurta. It
was created for
a scene in which
her character is
younger, hence the
color and silhou-
ette. The idea was
for her to look like
a flush of spring

ART ON THE
RED CARPET
This piece was
hand-painted PRINT EDITION
by a master This designer’s
craftsman from eco-friendly ap-
Rajasthan. The proach towards
GO GREEN
idea was to amal- clothes and a sus-
We picked this
gamate the art tainable produc-
piece as it’s a
of Picchwai with tion line makes us
fun red carpet
a contemporary go to her over and
number. The
silhouette to cre- over again. The
green popped
ate a distinctly Ajrakh printing of
beautifully on
Indian red carpet Kutch and Barmer
Dia
moment is distinctly Indian
and looks beauti-
ful on Dia
 25
Unwind
MumbaiMirror
Monday, March 30, 2020
mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror

BOOK NOOK
EVERY WEEK NOTED AUTHORS FROM DIFFERENT GENRES PICK THEIR FAVOURITE READS

ASHA NEHEMIAH PICKS

It’s story time

Noted children’s authors suggest books that will keep the kids
Tickle Me, Don’t Tickle Me and other poems for
Magnificent, Turbo-Loaded, Triple-Charged
Children by Jerry Pinto

A
fabulous collection of 51
poems sparkling with
Jerry Pinto’s humour and
imagination. He imagines, for
and young adults thoroughly entertained during the lockdown instance, the Slow Stochastic
| Suktara.Ghosh Indicator (a term in Economics)
@timesgroup.com to be a zoo escapee. There’s a
series of What Happens to Chil-
TWEETS @suktaraGMIRROR
dren …poems, which get us
‘Children who say they are going to
Fail their Exams and Then Stand
First’. Hair-Oil Horror depicts the
hilarious horrors of having one’s
hair oiled till the coconut oil
seeps off the head and onto the
ground. Also, featured are a few
reflective poems like They
Took Papa Away in a

A
lone time is a chuckling right from the Car about the death
wonderful opportunity titles as we recognise the of a parent. The illus-
to clear the clutter of trations by Sunaina
our minds and make Coelho complement
space for the books the humour perfectly,
that have perhaps been piling and there’s even a
up on the side-table. This week, Jerry Pinto look-alike
renowned children’s authors who features on
Asha Nehemiah, Paro Anand and some pages. The
Bijal Vachharajani recommend use of typogra-
books for little ones as well as phy and funky
young adults, that they adore. layout add
Here are their entertaining, heart- to the charm
felt and occasionally zany picks: of this must-
have book.

PARO ANAND PICKS Ammachi’s Amazing Machines and Ammachi’s

Flyaway Boy by Jane D’Souza Year of the Weeds by Siddhartha Sarma Incredible Investigations, illustrated by Rajiv

W I
hat can I say first came across Siddhartha Eipe and co-written with Vinayak Varma

S
about Flyaway Boy? Sarma when I read his Grass- ooraj’s Ammachi is a
It’s a stunner from hopper’s Run about the delightfully resourceful
the first line onwards and violence and unrest in the grandmother who wears a
zoomed to the top of my Northeast. I was stunned by tool belt and reads Darwin. Both
all-time favourite charts how deft a writer he was. The the books are a perfect blend of
within the first few pages. next huge surprise for me was a clever plot, humorous storytell-
It’s tender, soft, funny when I read Year of the Weeds. ing and amazing illustrations by
and heartbreakingly true. When I saw the beautiful, Rajiv Eipe. In Ammachi’s Amazing
Children and adults are delicate cover, I knew I was Machines, Sooraj and his grand-
going to connect with this in for a treat. I was startled to mother use regular household
story of not fitting in, of find that it was on a subject items (saris, for instance) to
not belonging in any of that I’d never have thought create machines. These ma-
the boxes that’s set out for possible, especially for young- chines do cool things, like help chines, children are introduced
us by society. The book er readers. I was amazed as pick and collect the coconuts to the principles behind the
forces the reader to not only ask ‘why?’ But also ‘why I read about Korok, a Gond tribal boy in Orissa as he that are urgently needed to simple machines we use
not?’ ‘Why can’t I be the wayz I am?’ — as if there is participates with his people in the struggle to wrest make Sooraj’s favourite coconut every day, in Incredible In-
no role in this world for those of us who are different. control over the land that has traditionally been theirs barfi. And, in their next outing vestigations, they learn the
A powerful book told with the lightest of touches. and is now being overrun by the land and mining ma- as Incredible Investigators, the scientific principles behind
Jane does an awesome job in raising questions fia. At a time when our democracy is in trouble, when adventurous duo sets up three the traps Sooraj and his
for parents and children through her audio-visual discrimination is rampant, these are two stunning different traps to catch a clever Ammachi concoct. The series is
presentation of the book, too. books that are worth your time. thief. While in Amazing Ma- entertaining and educational.

BIJAL VACHHARAJANI PICKS

Ammachi’s Glasses by Priya Kuriyan What Maya Saw by Shabnam Minwalla

A I
mmachi has lost her will read any- to young adults, this
glasses and the whole thing Shabnam is the story of Maya,
house has been turned Minwalla writes. who wants to be
upside down as a result. And I think I pretty just a regular teen,
Priya Kuriyan has created a much have. While but instead finds
delightful wordless picture I love both The herself surrounded
book, which is a must on Six Spellmakers of by a mob of gorgeous
any bookshelf. Meet the Dorabji Street and students who are
irrepressible and charm- the Nimmi series, determined to keep
ing grandmother as she I enjoyed reading their looks and
bumbles her way around Shabnam’s young youth at whatever
the house, wreaking havoc adult book, What cost. What ensues is
without her glasses, as the family looks on horrified. Maya Saw. Not only an enthralling hunt
Priya’s work is steeped in detail — from the little Kera- because it evokes for clues laid down
la vignettes to the many nature elements — each page a visceral sense of by a priest long dead
filled with moments of hilarity and gorgeousness (that Bombay then and — a path that’s full
mango tree spread is just beautiful). And each page Mumbai now, but of danger. A coming-
springs a new story. I especially love the wicked cat, also because Shabnam conjures of-age story about friendship and
the uninhibited Ammachi, and the ubiquitous crow, up this dark world full of sinister how beauty isn’t skin deep. Also,
a staple in a lot of Priya’s work. Ammachi’s Glass- teens and shadow creatures. Using much love for Kalyani Ganapa-
es makes for a perfect wordless book. a lot of lingo that would feel real thy’s beautiful cover.

To feature an event on this page, send the details and photographs to Vijayeta Basu on mirrorfeatures@timesgroup.com

Chai-Time
Kakuro
The numbers in the grey 15
squares refer to the
9
sums of the digits that
you must fill into the
empty spaces directly
below or to the right of the
grey square containing the
number. For instance, in the
given example, the 3 boxes
horizontally next to 15 must
contain 3 digits that add up to 15,
Quick
Across
7 Once again (6)
8 Basement (6)
9 Join metal (4)
10 D-Day landing site (8)
11Thought highly of (7)
13 Carrying weapons (5)
15 Sigmund ___ : father of
psychoanalysis? (5)
17 Underground stem (7)
20 Optimistic or hopeful (8)
21Indonesian island (4)
22 Guinness book entry (6)
23 Pressed (6)
My first has a game ball named after its hide
Riddler My second, outdoors, may be a riverside
My whole's heart, for a rainy day set aside
What am I?
whereas for 9, it is the 2
boxes placed vertically
under it that must add up to
9. No zeros are used here,
only the digits 1through 9.
Note: A digit cannot appear
more than once in any
particular digit combination.
For instance, in the example,
we cannot have the
combination of 4+7+4 for 15.
Down
1Displease (6)
2 Sell (4)
3 Ventures, wagers or at-
tempts (7)
4 Extreme contempt (5)
5 Old San Francisco jail (8)
6 Seat for the horseman? (6)
12 At the same pitch (2,6)
14 ____ Mills: Mall locale in
Lower Parel (7)
16 Absolutely still (6)
18 A maker of flour (6)
19 Types; sorts (5)
21Unexpected shock (4)
26
MINDCHOW JOKE OF THE DAY MumbaiMirror
Everything you want is out there waiting for Q: What is it called when a Monday, March 30, 2020
you to ask. Everything you want also wants snowman has a temper mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com
you. But you have to take action to get it tantrum? A: A meltdown facebook.com/themumbaimirror
@MumbaiMirror
LOOP
Sudokuchallenge
Rules
» Connect adjacent dots with
vertical or horizontal lines, creating
a single loop (Fig A).
» Crossovers or branches are not
allowed (As shown by dotted lines in
Fig B).
» Numbers in the puzzle indicate the
number of lines that should
surround it, while empty cells may
be surrounded by any number of Not allowed
lines. (Fig B)
» You can’t draw lines around zeros.
» Each puzzle has just one unique (Fig A)
solution.
How to begin: To solve a Sudoku puzzle, every digit from one to
Example (Fig A) – Begin with the zero nine must appear in each of the nine vertical co-
next to 3. Since no lines lumns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in
can be drawn around zero, mark each of the nine boxes.
crosses around it, as shown. Now
there is a cross in one space around
3. So we know the three lines of 3 can
only be drawn in the remaining three Gofigure Easy
=6
spaces. Next, these lines can only be Place the four numbers in
extended in one direction each. the first, third, fifth, and 3 5 5 9
Continue, using the same logic. seventh boxes and
Hints: Keep eliminating possibilities Medium
whatever operators you
by marking crosses in spaces care to use in the second, =9
between dots where a line isn’t fourth, and sixth boxes in
possible, i.e, if you have already the correct order to get 3 7 7 9
completed required lines or where a the answer. Use the Hard
line extension may create a branch numbers only once. = 15
or cause a dead-end
(Fig B) The operators 2 3 3 4
Strikeout Fastfive Wordsearch
How long do you think it Mind Over Matter
will take you to unscram- Can you find the words connected in one way or the
ble the ten words shown other with the theme indicated by the title in to-
below and fit them cor- day’s Word Search?
rectly into the grid in the The words may be read horizontally, vertically or
order given? One letter diagonally either forwards or backwards, but al-
has already been entered ways in straight lines. Use a ruler to cross them
to get you started. On through as you find them.
your marks, get set…
Across Down Wordlist: Beijing,
This crossword has no clues and answer is there 1Mt Ass 1Mures Chengdu, Guangzhou,
waiting for you. All you have to do is find it in each 6 Hi pun 2 A rant Harbin, Lhasa,
square. You have a choice of two letters, one of which 7 Toles 3 Hooks Nanjing, Shantou,
you must strike out. If you choose correctly, you will be Tianjin, Wuhan,
left with a grid that contains real words. 8 Do ere 4 Tiled Xiamen, Xian, Yibin,
9 Drake 5 Deeps Zunyi
Quoteuncode Mensapuzzle Bull’seye Alphatriangle
This puzzle is a substitu- Which number replaces How many words of four Beginning at the top move towards the bottom
tion cipher in which one the question mark and or more letters can you seven-letter word by adding a letter at each step and
letter stands for anoth- completes the puzzle? make from the letters rearranging. A correct and different word must be
er. If you think that Q shown? Every word made at each step answering to the clue given.
equals C, it will equal C must contain the cen- 1Universal gas constant in physics 2 Music director
throughout the puzzle. tral letter. There should Rahman 3 A motor vehicle 4 Lot of land 5 Tossing pole
Single letters, short be one seven-letter 6 Shored up 7 Carbon compound
words and words using word. British English
an apostrophe give you Dictionary is used as a
clues to locating vowels. reference.
Solution is by trial and
error.
R
M
TODAY’S CLUE: R
D EQUALS G. R S
R
VQEQNVPO UE P
U E R
XJVANFULQR PHVU-
E R
JEUKT. UK UE IJWUZD
NZR IVTUZD SUKO N R
»
IHVIJEQ. 11Average;13 Good; R
15 Outstanding
DIFFICULT TO SOLVE? FIND THESE SOLUTIONS ON THE NEXT PAGE
 ChaiTime MumbaiMirror Monday, March 30, 2020 27

COMICS Ferd”nand SIGN POST Shirley Bose

If it’s your birthday today

Career/ business is in a stable karmic cycle after June that brings satisfaction and
helps reach two important goals. Income/ profits increase. Travel is less than
last year. Some deal with a new boss. The relationship with your spouse/
partner is overall good, except when a couple of recurring issues raise
their heads again. Try to deal with them once and for all with a discussion.

Capricorn Taurus Virgo

Frank and earnest by bob thaves For some reason Having a dis- Making enough time
you continue to feel cussion is neces- for loved ones is very
betrayed even after sary, but keeping important, even
discussing some self esteem intact is though you are usually very
crucial points. Focus on important. The same daily routine busy. Focus on listing pros and
keeping a low profile as little is boring. Taking a short break cons of why you must, or
things and what people say helps. Focus on nurturing present mustn’t relocate.
may irritate. friendships. Colours: brown/ peach.
Colours: orange/ green. Colours: lime green/ mustard.

Aquarius Gemini Libra

Making informed Initiating finance The truth may be
Bizarro by Dan Piraro and well thought
out choices is half
related changes is
revealed. A message
different to
perception. It is
the battle won in seems to have a double always better to ask.
advance. Be practical. Focus meaning. Do get enough sleep. Memories of the past crowd
on enjoying this soul mate Focus on appreciating the you again. Focus on getting the
connection you feel with a new present and all good that is renovation/ repairs complet-
friend. manifesting. ed on time.
Colours: maroon/ black. Colours: pistachio/ indigo. Colours: mango/ white.

Pisces Cancer Scorpio

Two issues dogging Trust wisely or Mentally and
you for some time there maybe a huge emotionally you
are finally put to rest. learning lesson in are so happy and
Jumpstart An unsettled time ends store. Focus on being contented. Taking
today. Focus on finding out why forthright about what you feel, certain important decisions
family seems to be upset with as keeping quiet may make you helped reach this space. Focus
you. feel taken for granted. on completing work schedule
Colours: teal/ cranberry. Colours: pink/ tan. set out for the busy day ahead.
Colours: magenta/ beige.

Aries Leo Sagittarius

There is a raise in
salary for some.
Life moves ahead
full speed. A rela-
tionship begins. Focus on
Pearls before swine by Stephan Pastis allowing peaceful thoughts to
guide your spiritual path to
victory.
Colours: Prussian blue/ fawn.
Be deeply under- That special
standing but relationship is so
practical about loving and wonder-
why a certain deci- ful. You feel extreme-
sion has to be followed ly lucky and blessed. Health is
through. Focus on enjoying the good. Focus on dealing with
family get together with relatives unexpected expenses to the
from far and near attending. best of your ability.
Colours: grey/ purple. Colours: silver/ aquamarine.

KIDZONE WHATZIT
Yuvraj N Pawar, 10 years, Andheri

Redeye by Mel Casson

A narrow escape
SOLUTION:

Mumbai Mirror, Times of India Bldg, Dr D N Road, Mumbai– 1

or email us at kidzone@timesgroup.com LINEMARO
Are you into wildlife? Because I’m
Please send hard copies of your artwork in A4 size only. quite fawned of you, my deer

SOLUTIONS SUPREME
2 + 4 x 3 - 3 = 15 prying with a purpose.
left hand corner. curiosity. It is poking and spur, super,
Hard
way towards the lower Research is formalized sperm, spree,
7-7x3+9=9 bers. Continue in this rupee, seep,
Medium original pair of num- QUOTE UNCODE purse, rump,
9-3-5+5=6 the lower left of the pure, puree,
Easy result in the square to PRESUME,
GO FIGURE together, putting the peruse,
of adjacent numbers peer, perm,
diagram, and add pairs BULL’S EYE
Carbide. right diagonal of the
Caber, Braced, numbers along the top
R, AR, Car, Acre, 6. Start with the Piggy bank
KAKURO LOOP ALPHA TRIANGLE SU DOKU MENSA PUZZLE QUICK STRIKE OUT FAST FIVE RIDDLER

Volume No 15, Issue No 256 REGD. NO. MAHENG/2005/16272 “NOT FOR SALE OUTSIDE INDIA” "AIR CHARGE: DELHi & VIA. Rs. 5.00"
Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., by R Krishnamurthy at The Times of India Building, Dr D N Road, Mumbai 400 001and printed by him at (1) The Times of India Suburban Press, Akurli Road, Western Express Highway, Kandivli (E), Mumbai 400 101.
Tel. Nos. 66353535, 22733535 and (2) The Times of India Print City, Plot No. 4, T.T.C. Industrial Area, Thane Belapur Road, Airoli, Navi Mumbai-400 708. Tel. No. (022) 2760 9999; Fax: (022) 2760 5275, Response - 66353636, 22733636, Email - mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com,
Fax - 22731160. Resident Editor: Pankaj Upadhyaya (Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act). Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of the Publisher is prohibited.
 Movies MumbaiMirror Entertainment Industry Promotion
Tom, Rita return to the US
T
om Hanks and Rita Wilson are
finally back home and grateful to
those who helped them recover
from the novel coronavirus, as well as
to their fans. Post their return to the CORONAVIRUS
United States, the 63-year-old Oscar-winning OUTBREAK
actor expressed his thanks to healthcare workers in
Australia who treated him and his wife earlier this month
amid the pandemic.”Hey, Folks,” he tweeted on Saturday.
“We’re home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on
with sheltering in place and social distancing. Many, many
thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us. Their
care and guidance made possible our return to the USA. And
many thanks to all of you who reached out with well wishes.
Rita and I so appreciate it. Hanx.” —Agencies
Shia, Mia reunite
S
hia LaBeouf and Mia
Goth are sparking
romance rumors once
more. The former couple
announced in September
2018 that they were break-
ing up. Now, it looks like
the two are rekindling their
relationship. According to
an eyewitness, “Shia is quar-
antined at his new house
M
in Pasadena with his lady.
They love to be outdoors
together and spent several
hours rising bikes around
the neighborhood, running
and working out.” The two
were recently spotted going
on a run together while the
actor sported a wedding
band on his ring finger and
the 26-year-old was spotted
wearing her wedding ring
as well. “She was rubbing
his leg and pulling him in
close,” the source added.
“They got back on their
bikes and continued to ride.
When they stopped for a
water break, Shia took off his
shirt and started dancing in
the parking lot and snapping
his fingers.” — Agencies
When technology rescued a
b’day party at the Roshan’s
T
he Roshans are determined
to not let the nation-wide
lock-down rain on their daily
routine. Last week, Sussanne
Khan moved in with Hrithik so they
could co-parent their sons, Hre-
haan and Hridhaan, while staying
indoors. On Saturday, the Roshan
family came together to celebrate
Hrehaan’s 14th birthday without
flouting any lockdown rules.
The family chat group was
renamed ‘Houseparty’ and grand-
parents Rakesh and Pinkie, aunt
Sunaina, and cousins Eshu, Suranika
and Pashmina attended virtually. As
the teenager cut the cake, custom-
baked by Suranika, they sang the
birthday song.
“Hrehaan’s was a Happy
Birthday. Thanks to a little adapta-
Monday, March 30, 2020
28
MIRRORLIGHTS
Not a welcome break
Twinkle Khanna’s kick anything at all,”
Sunday began with a she quipped, tongue-
trip to the hospital. in-cheek, pointing
Before you jump to to her plastered leg.
conclusions given With actor-husband
the coronavirus Akshay Kumar as her
outbreak, she
posted a video to
clarify that the visit
designated chauffeur
from Chandni Chowk,
cruising down empty
was only the result streets, Twinkle was
of her clumsiness. “Please don’t chirping happily about the crows
be alarmed, I’m not about to kick and pigeons. Just one question:
the bucket, cause I really can’t Why was Akki wearing a beanie?
Selfie-love
Mariah turns 50th Taking a break from
recommending films,
into virtual party Arjun Kapoor turned to
self-care. With gelled hair
ariah and groomed beard, the
Carey actor clicked a mirror
didn’t selfie, posing proudly
let social dis- against the backdrop of
tancing come his video library. “Mirror
in the way of Mirror on the wall...Bored
her 50th. Over yet? She replied not at
the weekend, all...” he wrote alongside
the “Honey” the pic. Wonder if the ‘she’
hitmaker referred to Madam M who
dressed up in loves sefies just as much
a decolletage-flaunting sequin dress to Mr K. Narcissism is an
celebrate the day. “Spent 3.27 (her date of effective antidote for
birth) at home with my family and virtu- self-isolation, indeed.
ally with fans and friends from all over
the world. Thank you for all the love,” she
captioned a photo of herself flanked by Nargis’s sunny streak
her twins, Monroe and Moroccan, in par-
Nargis Fakhri had fans
ty hats. In the foreground is a chocolate-
concerned with her recent post
iced cake with a ‘12’ candle, referencing
which showed her stepping out
Mariah’s claim that she’s “eternally 12”.
of a sunny yellow cab, looking
—Agencies
ultra-chic in a long black dress.
Thinking she was doing a fashion
shoot on the streets of New
York, they reminded her to wear
a mask before venturing out or
better still stay in “because India
loves you”. Nargis was quick
to reassure them that it was a
throwback pic while pointing out
that in this new world and its
quarantine life, there’s no harm
in clinging to old beliefs. “No one
ever injured their eyesight by
looking at the bright side!” she
philosophised. One sunny side up
coming along for apun ki Nargis.
Excuse me... Can you repeat that, please?
Meanwhile, Sushant Singh Rajput
gave fans something to mull over,
while in isolation. Sharing one of
Magritte’s painting from the Key
to Dreams series, the actor wrote,
“If you name me, you negate me.”
“What does
this mean,
sir?” asked
one, while
bility, flexibility and technology. another
God bless our children. There will be enquired,
better days,” Hrithik wrote with the “Ramayan
video; Sussanne applauded it as the nahi dekh rahe
“sweetest video ever”. Arjun Kapoor aap?” We are
and Tiger Shroff were among the still wonder-
actors who wished the birthday boy. ing what he
—MMB meant…