Several urban professionals are thinking about “workcations” in sunny Goa, or the cool slopes of Himachal Pradesh. Who doesn’t want to escape the dreary sameness of your home city after six months while being able to meet work obligations? Here’s why that’s a terrible idea – for other people.

Ahead of the Bihar polls, the Sushant Singh Rajput case is being used to gain political mileage. Now former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who was probing the actor’s death, has joined Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).

Watching queer characters on screen helped me alleviate some of my queer anxiety. Radha and Sita from Fire, are not the only bisexual characters portrayed on Indian screens. There’s the almost-marriage in Four More Shots Please! and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety is as queer as they come.

Brutal crimes against women have steadily been on the rise in Uttar Pradesh. The pressure on the administration has mounted over the last few months. The government has directed officials to launch “Operation Durachari” where those guilty of crimes against women will find their posters on road crossings across the state.

Sunil Gavaskar’s “Inhone lockdown me toh bas Anushka ki bowling ki practice ki hai” jibe at Virat Kohli reeks of sexism. Why is it that the actress is dragged into a cricketing conversation only when her husband underperforms?

Legendary playback singer SP Balasubrahmanyam passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on Friday at the age of 74. Winner of six national awards, Balasubrahmanyam sang songs for five decades, for generations of actors, from MGR, Shivaji Ganesan and Gemini Ganesan, to the stars of the day.

Railway tracks and highways have been blocked as farmers from Punjab to Tamil Nadu protest against the contentious farm bills passed in Parliament. It’s the biggest news of the day, but if you depend on TV channels for information all you’ll get is cars chasing Deepika Padukone.

TV journalists spent all of yesterday chasing Deepika Padukone in Goa. As the actress arrived in Mumbai with her husband Ranveer Singh, media vehicles continued trailing them. At a traffic signal, one reporter even knocked on the couple’s car.

Uttar Pradesh is no state for women. In yet another shameful incident, 52 teachers of a private school in Meerut have complained that the school management filmed them inside toilets and later blackmailed them when they demanded salaries.

Four More Shots Please! bagging an International Emmy nomination for “Best Comedy” is giving Indians possibly the most shocking moment since the show’s second season released earlier this year.

At the Ban Santour Elephant Rehabilitation Centre in Haryana, an elephant named Jasmine – previously called Lakshmi – is marking one year of freedom from a life of begging on Delhi’s roads. After a dramatic rescue, she is recovering from the wounds of spending a life in the alien urban environment of the capital.

Coach and commentator Dean Jones has died at the age of 59, due to a heart attack. Deano, or Professor, as he was affectionately called, was adored by players and fans alike. He revolutionised one-day batting on the pitch and commentary, when behind the microphone, with his insightful analysis and entertaining demeanor.

The legend of Navika Kumar, a WhatsApp expert, has grown to the point that people have started deleting their own shady WhatsApp chats like “Nice DP”. Haters gonna hate, Navika. What you have is not only a gift, but also a business idea. Please become a WhatsApp consultant and help people with their jobs and relationships.

Atrocities against Dalits continue to make headlines even in 2020. In yet another shocking incident, a Dalit farmer from Uttar Pradesh was beheaded because he refused to share water for irrigation with another farmer.

Flight Lieutenant Shivangi Singh has made history after becoming the first woman pilot to join Rafale’s “Golden Arrows” Squadron in Ambala. The officer has been flying the MiG-21 Bison aircraft, and had been serving at a fighter base in Rajasthan, where she was trained by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Stormfront debuted as the newest member on Amazon Prime Video’s “The Boys” this season, as the social media darling who fans can’t get enough of. But over the first few episodes, it becomes clear that she’s actually one of the most evil superheroes to have ever been written.

Arati Saha, who would have turned 80 today, was a long-distance Indian swimmer and an Olympian. In 1959, she became the first Asian woman to swim across the English Channel. How many of you read about her after today’s Google Doodle?

Deepika Padukone has been summoned by the Narcotics Control Bureau and is likely to be questioned on Friday. Meanwhile, farmers across the country gear up for a nationwide protest against farm bills. Is this just a coincidence?

Pariwar, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, is the perfect show for the pandemic. Everyone weary of high-intensity shows about drug lords, should turn their attention to this light-hearted, universal story of a family at war with itself. It also has a stellar cast, including Gajraj Rao, Vijay Raaz, Yashpal Sharma, Ranvir Shorey, and Nidhi Singh.

Indian trolls today latched onto Poonam Pandey. The actress filed an FIR against her husband of 13 days, Sam Bombay, claiming that he had molested, threatened, and assaulted her. It led to some vicious stream of commentary from internet users, who stated that Pandey was faking the FIR to extort money from her husband.

Over the coming days, actresses Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, and Rakul Preet Singh have all been summoned by the NCB for questioning. Like it or not, this will probably be the news story that gets the most coverage, despite the host of other issues that currently beset the country.

Indian-American bride rocked the perfect “East Meets West” look when she ditched the traditional lehenga for a pale-blue vintage pantsuit. What’s not to love about it?

Bilkis, popularly known as “The Dadi of Shaheen Bagh”, is 82. She was named one of 2020’s Most Influential People by TIME Magazine, because of her undaunted participation in the sit-in protest at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh against the CAA. The list also features PM Narendra Modi, and Ayushmann Khurrana.

Ahead of the Bihar polls, the Sushant Singh Rajput case is being used to gain political mileage. Now Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey, who was probing the actor’s death, has quit service and will decide “how best to serve the society”.

Ayushmann Khurrana is the only Indian artist to appear on Time Magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People of 2020. “Where male protagonist roles often fall into the trap of stereotypical masculinity, Ayushmann has successfully and convincingly transformed into characters who challenge those very stereotypes,” Deepika Padukone wrote in a fitting tribute to the actor.

Fashionable technology is no longer a luxury, it is a bare minimum in 2020. And that’s the case with the OPPO F17 Pro. Thanks to the AI Portrait modes, I no longer have to worry about trying to edit dark pictures that look like they were clicked by Mangalyaan in space with no light around. Each picture is a work of art.

Unable to pay her children’s medical expenses, a woman from Kochi pledged to sell all her organs, including her heart, in exchange for money.

Throughout the pandemic, there have been reports of patients or their relatives refusing to cooperate with doctors and healthcare workers, leading to violence in some instances. An amendment to the Epidemic Diseases Act now makes violence against health workers a non-bailable offence with a hefty fine.

An amendment to the Essential Commodities Act removes cereals, pulses, potato, onion, and oils from the list of essential commodities. The Essential Commodities Act prevents hoarding, black-marketing, and price-gouging. The removal of this range of food items from the list has caused quite a stir.

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli honoured one of our Covid champions, through RCB’s #MyCovidHeroes initiative. The skipper posted a video message tribute to Simranjeet Singh, a hearing-impaired man who raised more than ₹98,000 for the deaf community. AB de Villiers changed his name and DP to honour Paritosh Pant, a Mumbai-based restaurant owner who fed daily-wage earners during the lockdown.