Panipuri Vendor Turns Matchmaker, Sparks Hilarious Online Thread

A social media thread in India has gone viral after a woman shared a funny encounter with a Panipuri vendor who was pressured by customers to find a groom for their daughter.

The woman, identified as @prakritea17 on the platform 'X', narrated how she witnessed a group of women having a serious conversation with the vendor. As they left, the vendor began venting his frustration to her, revealing that the woman had requested that he find a suitable groom among his customers.

They have asked him to find a a groom for their youngest daughter. He was telling me about this last week too, but I didn't pay much attention to it and today I witnessed it lmaoo

— Prakriti (@prakritea17) February 28, 2024

Surprisingly, the vendor took their request seriously and identified a regular customer, a software engineer earning a good salary, as a potential match. However, the situation turned comical when the women insisted on finding a different groom.

They even suggested the vendor check the customer's details, highlighting their determination to find a specific match. The incident left the vendor flustered, and he expressed his annoyance at being pressured into matchmaking with such specific criteria.

The experience left the vendor so upset; he felt pressured to inquire about marriage, only to face rejection for the prospects he presented.

“And he went on to say, ‘Agar kal bhi aakar puchne lag gaye toh main puch lunga pani puri wala kyu nahi chalega' (If they start pestering me again tomorrow, I'll ask them why isn't a Panipuri vendor okay for them).” 

The user's post, titled "My contribution to India is not for beginners," has garnered significant attention online, with many users finding humor in the situation.

"You can suggest that the panipuri guy charge 2k for finding grooms and 20k if the suggested groom actually becomes the husband," commented a user.
 
"Well, thanks for the idea. I was trying to find a way to ask out a girl who repeatedly visits Thela," wrote another user.

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Watch: IT Minister's Masterclass On India's Semiconductor Ecosystem

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explained how his ministry is working to create an all-inclusive semi-conductor ecosystem in India in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make-in-India" vision.

In a little over four-minute-long video, the minister charts up the plan to develop a comprehensive semiconductor setup in India, complete with a talent pool of thousands and a research system encompassing over a hundred universities in the country.

During his media interaction today after the cabinet approved three more semiconductor units, the minister laid out the plan on a whiteboard, drawing up each step with a marker in great detail.

"There are four main components in the entire process - Design, fabrication, or FAB, assembly-testing-marking-packaging, or ATMP, and electronics manufacturing, or circuit," the minister explained.

"The primary thing we are developing for this is a talent pool. The second big thing we are doing is research and development, or R&D," he added. 

What steps are being taken to augment the talent pool and for research and development? The minister explained: "The most difficult and the most expensive tools, called Electronic Design Automation, or EDA, tools, are supplied by Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens. These are very expensive. If you go to buy one, you will have to shell out Rs 10 crore - Rs 15 crore for just one license. So, we have spoken to these three companies and have taken their EDA tools and given them to 104 universities in the country."

"We have given the license and login to not just the IITs, but also to the tier-II and tier-III universities so they can expose and train their students on how to use these tools live and not just in theory. The students can now take up a project and design a new mobile chip and make it. This will give birth to new start-ups and will add to our talent pool. This talent pool of some three lakhs will feed into Design, FAB, and ATMP aspects," he said.

The programme is a very comprehensive one and hence, the foundation is very important, the minister said, adding, "What we have been able to achieve in two years, many countries have not been able to do that in five years. "

"We have the Design and the ATMP components and have started work on developing FAB. Now, Applied Materials is the largest manufacturer of equipment. They have started setting up a plant in India. They are designing in India and manufacturing in India. So, all of this will finally come together and aid manufacturing, in line with PM's "Make-in-India" vision," Mr Vishnaw asserted.

Earlier today, the Union cabinet approved the setting up of three semiconductor-making units at an investment of Rs 1.26 lakh crore as part of an attempt to cut India's dependence on imports to meet the requirements of chips.

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Offensive Language": Arvind Kejriwal vs Lt Governor In 'Open Letters'

In a war of words over the issue of one-time settlement of inflated water bills, Delhi LG V K Saxena in an 'open letter' addressed to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the AAP dispensation's allegations of stalling the proposed scheme were "white lies".

The Delhi chief minister as well as AAP government ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj had accused the LG and the BJP of stalling the scheme through the officers concerned.

Mr Kejriwal, in reply to the LG, wrote back an 'open letter' to him, saying he was "deeply pained by the language" of his letter.

Mr Kejriwal said, "Whatever our differences, political backgrounds, however diverse our perspectives; this kind of offensive language is not acceptable from one constitutional functionary to another."

Not a single piece of paper on the scheme was brought to the notice of the LG, officially or unofficially, Mr Saxena claimed in his letter.

Water, finance, urban development, all these departments concerned with the scheme, being transferred subjects, are totally under the chief minister's control and the LG has no role whatsoever, Mr Saxena wrote to Mr Kejriwal.

The Raj Niwas posted the 'open letter' by the LtG on the X saying, "The LG writes open letter to CM Kejriwal; says Water, Finance, UD Departments totally under your control, I've nothing to do with it. Take decisions, and don't blame others. Benefit all 27 lakh consumers, why only 10 lakh? Return the bills paid by 17 lakh honest consumers with interest." The 17 lakh consumers paid Rs 13,186 crore to the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) as water bills since 2012, Saxena said asking the chief minister to return the amount to them with interest.

The LG also objected to a resolution passed by the Delhi Assembly on February 19 that the BJP exercises "direct control" over him.

"This is completely unacceptable and irresponsible assertion which does not behove of the members who endorsed it," Mr Saxena stated.

He charged that a "false narrative" was being peddled by the chief minister and his ministers that the scheme was stalled by him.

"Your statements are white lies, again an example of typical 'abuse and scoot game' which you seem to have mastered and made a career out of it," retorted the LG to charges on him.

The LG claimed that no decision was taken by the Delhi government regarding the one-time settlement 'scheme', and charged that the "inefficiency and failures of the chief minister and his government were being deliberately put on him and the Centre to divert public attention".

He said the scheme was approved by the DJB on January 13, 2023, and was sent for comments by the finance department on January 25, 2024, after a gap of one year.

The minister concerned sent the file to the chief secretary as late as February 21, 2024, clearly indicating that the supposed 'scheme' was still in the process of formulation and was far from reaching any finality, said the LG.

"One is forced to wonder as to why the minister kept sitting on the proposed scheme for one year," he said.

Mr Kejriwal, in his 'open letter' to Mr Saxena, hoped they will be "able to maintain a cordial and constructive working relationship" in the interest of Delhi's people.

"I have myself discussed this matter with you more than once and brought it to your notice that the officers of the Delhi Jal Board, the Urban Development Department and the Finance Department are creating a constitutional crisis by not bringing the proposal to the Council of Ministers, despite the directions of the minister in charge," he said.

He claimed that LG exercised all powers over officers.

"As a consequence, the officers respond to your directions whether given orally or in writing. This is the reason why I have brought multiple issues to your notice, where matters of public interest are being held up by officers, including this issue of water bills," said Kejriwal.

The Delhi chief minister requested the LG to take an "exemplary action" against at least one officer so that it sends a message to the administrative machinery to fall in line.

"Please do not let the people of Delhi down," he further wrote in his 'open letter'.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"One Chai, Please": Bill Gates Enjoys Tea Made By Dolly Chaiwala

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and a philanthropist, is currently on a visit to India, and his various excursions have created considerable attention and discussion on the internet.

In a recently shared video on social media, Bill Gates was captured relishing a cup of chai from a renowned tea stall in India. The footage shows Mr Gates engaging with Dolly Chaiwalla, a celebrated tea vendor and a familiar presence on social media, while enjoying a cup of chai prepared by him.

Watch the video here:

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A post shared by Bill Gates (@thisisbillgates)

The video opens with Mr Gates placing an order for "one chai" with Chaiwalla. Chaiwalla then prepares the tea in his signature style, using a special cart. The final shot shows Gates enjoying the piping hot tea from a glass.

The video concludes with Mr Gates taking a sip of the hot beverage from a glass and posing for a photo with Dolly Chaiwalla, accompanied by the text "Looking forward to many chai pe charcha," which translates to "looking forward to many conversations over chai." This suggests Gates may be looking forward to further interactions and discussions during his visit to India.

The video has garnered significant attention online, with many surprised and delighted to see Mr Gates embracing the local culture and enjoying a cup of chai from a popular street vendor.

The video has garnered approximately 4 million views on social media, accompanied by nearly 300,000 likes on Instagram.

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Kajol, KJo, Sunny Deol, Ira-Nupur At Laapataa Ladies Screening

On Monday night,  the makers of Laapataa Ladies hosted a special screening in Mumbai and it was a starry one. Kajol, Sunny Deol, Radhika Apte, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ali Fazal, Tillotama Shome turned up to attend the screening in style. Kiran Rao, the director of Laapataa Ladies, came to the screening with ex-husband Aamir Khan, who is also the producer of the film. Aamir and Kiron posed with Laapataa Ladies actor Ravi Kishan on the red carpet.  Aamir Khan's daughter Ira Khan arrived at the screening with husband Nupur Shikhare. Ira chose a pretty pink saree for the occasion. Sunny Deol, who will feature in Aamir Khan's production Lahore 1947, posed with director Rajkumar Santoshi on the red carpet. Ali Fazal is also a part of the film Lahore 1947 and he also posed for the shutterbugs on the red carpet. Take a look:

Director Ashutosh Gowariker, who worked with Aamir Khan in Lagaan, attended the screening. Director R Balki, Kabir Khan and his wife Mini Mathur also attended the screening. Karan Johar, Anand L Rai also marked their presence at the screening.

Here's a couple picure of Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao at the screening.

Here's a group picture of Aamir-Kiran with the cast of Laapataa Ladies - Sparsh Shrivastav, Pratibha Ranta, Nitanshi Goel.

Laapataa Ladies is based on an award-winning story by Biplab Goswami. The screenplay and dialogue are written by Sneha Desai, while Divyanidhi Sharma has taken care of the additional dialogues. Laapataa Ladies had a screening at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year.

Sharing the trailer, Kiran Rao wrote in the caption, "Ghunghat uth chuke hain. #LaapataaLadies trailer is out!" Take a look:

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A post shared by Kiran Rao (@raodyness)

Kiran Rao made her directorial debut with Dhobi Ghat. The film released in 2011. The film starred Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, Kriti Malhotra. Laapataa Ladies will release in theatres on March 1.

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Congress 3, BJP 1: Rajya Sabha Election Results Out For Karnataka

The ruling Congress in Karnataka won three seats and the BJP one in the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka on Tuesday, which were marred by cross-voting in a setback to the saffron party.

Ajay Maken, G C Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain, all from the Congress, and Narayansa K Bhandage of the BJP got elected to the Upper House in the polls in which elected MLAs were the voters.

Five candidates, including D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) who lost the election, were in the fray for the four seats.

According to official sources, the value of each MLA's vote is 100 and the number of votes sufficient to secure the election of a candidate is 4,441.

Maken, Hussain and Bhandage got 4,700 votes each and Chandrashekhar 4,500. Reddy got only 3,600 votes and therefore did not make the cut.

BJP MLA S T Somashekar voted for Mr Maken, while another party legislator A Shivaram Hebbar abstained.

The BJP said it was exploring the possibility of taking legal action them and lodging a complaint with the Speaker U T Khader seeking their disqualification from the assembly for violating the whip issued to them to vote in favour of the party candidate.

"We have got the information that Somashekar has done cross-voting. I consulted with advocate Vivek Reddy who is our state legal cell president and a high court lawyer. We will ask the Speaker to initiate action (of disqualification) against him (Somashekar) and explore the possibilities to take steps in accordance with the law," Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly R Ashoka said.

Mr Somashekar had earlier quit the Congress and joined the BJP. He served as a minister in the previous BJP government and was made the Mysuru district in-charge minister back then.

In recent months, Mr Somashekar and Mr Hebbar had distanced themselves from the BJP and increasingly began identifying with the Congress.

The BJP (66 MLAs) and the JD(S) (19 MLAs) combined had fielded Kupendra Reddy though they did not have the requisite votes to get him elected. 

The NDA partners said they were expecting "conscience votes", apparently from the rival Congress camp, in favour of Mr Reddy.

The Congress has 134 members in the assembly. There are also four others members, including two independents.

Mr Somashekar said he heard the "voice of his conscience" and voted in favour of the Congress, "which built schools and carried out developmental works in his constituency". Hebbar too said he abstained from voting adhering to his conscience.

"This is not 'atma sakshi' (conscience) but 'atma droha' (self betrayal)," BJP MLC N Ravi Kumar said, commenting on Somashekar's and Hebbar's actions.

The BJP and JD(S) workers staged a demonstration in Bengaluru against Mr Somashekar. Raising slogans, they burnt his effigy.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, ridiculed the BJP and the JD(S) saying, "'Conscience vote seekers' have become 'conscience vote givers'." "I don't know about cross-voting. I haven't seen the votes of others and independents. Ask the BJP, who spoke about conscience votes," Mr Shivakumar quipped.

Asked if there is legal support for those who have cast conscience votes to Congress candidates, he said, "Let's talk about it when it happens. I am not aware of any complaint filed with the Speaker regarding cross-voting.

"Mr Somashekar has cast his vote as per his conscience. It's a vote against the unholy BJP-JD(S) alliance. The general public, graduates, and teachers have rejected the alliance. Let's see what the legislators think." Chief Minister Siddaramaiah earlier hit out at the JD(S), alleging that the party had sought to lure and threaten its MLAs.

"JDS needs 45 votes (for their candidate) to win. Do they have that many votes? Even though they don't have enough votes, they still fielded the candidate and are luring our MLAs. Do they have a conscience?" the chief minister asked.

"An FIR has been lodged regarding the threat to us," Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters here, Siddaramaiah lashed out at the JD(S), saying, "When JD(S) does not have 'atma' (soul), how can it have 'atma sakshi' (conscience)? They call themselves Janata Dal (Secular) but whom did they join with?". He was referring to the JD(S) forming an alliance with the BJP.

Former chief minister and JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy said the FIR against Kupendra Reddy and his aides was registered at Vidhana Soudha police station.

Mr Kumaraswamy said the complainant MLA did not say that he was lured, but that some other MLAs were "approached".

"Melukote MLA Darshan Puttannaiah of Karnataka Sarvodaya Paksha too had said that it's true that his vote was sought but no one had lured him," the JD(S) state chief claimed.

Mr Kumaraswamy said the BJP and JD(S) had decided to field Kupendra Reddy on the basis of the votes of the 19 JD(S) MLAs and the additional BJP votes after its first preferential votes.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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ACA Initiates Inquiry Against Vihari After Revelations About Mistreatment

The bitter spat between Hanuma Vihari and Andhra Cricket Association took a fresh turn as the state body on Monday announced an inquiry against the senior batter, who had accused the ACA of forcing him to resign from captaincy at the start of the ongoing season. Drama unfolded after Andhra's campaign in the Ranji Trophy ended in a defeat on Monday as Vihari announced that he will never play for the side due to "mistreatment" by the state association.

“Complaints were received from teammates, support staff and ACA administrators about Vihari's use of foul language and abusive behaviour. ACA will conduct a thorough inquiry into all complaints and the due course of action will be communicated,” said the ACA in a media release.

Vihari had also hit out at a reserve team-mate (son of a politician) who he alleged had asked his father to take action against him after the veteran player shouted at him during a match.

ACA stated that it had received a complaint from the junior player about Vihari at that time.

“It has come to our attention that Mr Vihari personally verbally abuse a specific player during the Bengal Ranji game in front of everyone. The affected player filed an official compliant with the ACA,” the release said.

Vihari had shared the copy of his statement on his X account signed by other players in the Andhra team with a one-line comment -- "the whole team knows (what had happened on that day)." "Sad part is the association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them (association). I've decided that I'll never play for Andhra where I lost my self-respect.

"I love the team. I love the way we're growing every season but the association doesn't want us to grow," Vihari wrote on Instagram.

The middle-order batter, who has played 16 Tests for India, started the season as Andhra captain but stepped down after the first match against last year's runners-up Bengal.

Ricky Bhui led the team for the rest of the season.

At the time, Vihari attributed his decision to move away from leadership role due to "personal reasons" but now the right-handed batter said the association had asked him to resign.

"I was the captain in the first game against Bengal, during that game I shouted at the 17th player and he complained to his dad (who is a politician), his dad in return asked the association to take action against me.

"I was asked to resign from captaincy without any fault of mine. I never said anything on a personal note to the player," said Vihari.

But the ACA said the decision to appoint a new captain was taken in view of Vihari's possible non-availability because of him being an India prospect.

Later the player in question, KN Prudhvi Raj, took to Instagram and accused Vihari of making false claims.

"Hello everyone! I'm that guy, you guys are searching in the comment box, whatever you guys heard is absolutely false, no one is higher than the game and my self-respect is much bigger than anything.

"Personal attacks and vulgar language are unacceptable in any kind of human platform. Everyone in the team knows what happened that day…Mr so called champion. Play this sympathy game however you want," wrote Prudhvi.

Vihari has also expressed grouse that the association did not value his sacrifices for the team over the years, recalling last year's Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match against Madhya Pradesh when he played through an injury.

"The association thought that player was more important than the guy who gave his body on the line last year and batted left-handed, took Andhra to knock outs 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 Tests.

"I felt embarrassed but the only reason I continued playing this season was because I respect the game and my team," he added.

Ahead of the 2023-2024 domestic season, Vihari was also linked with a switch to Madhya Pradesh but he decided to stay on with Andhra.

The ACA said it was Vihari who reversed the decision and decided to stay on with Andhra team. 

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