A few days ago, a young mother, a seemingly ordinary woman in Agra, killed her toddler daughter. Local reports, still unfolding, suggest the motive was not rage or neglect, but a lover. The child, investigators whispered, had become an "obstacle". This case is not an aberration.

The sky's playing us for fools. Once predictable, today's weather is a treacherous trickster; ditching gentle rains for deluges, mild heat for killer heatwaves. It's time to face facts: nature's mood swings are no joke, and our old tricks won't cut it anymore.

There was a time when love itself was rebellion. Falling in love meant defying the family. Challenging society. Whispered meetings, secret letters, stolen glances. The whole affair had the flavour of a Bollywood drama. As the old dialogue goes: “Pyar kiya to darna kya."

How long can Iran hold out? Fifteen days? A month? Or will it drag on for years, stretched in weary, laboured breaths?

One morning, the tap will open… and nothing will come out. No warning. No apology. Just a hollow cough of air. That day has a name. Day Zero. And, don’t be fooled; it isn’t a dystopian story anymore. It is quietly circling India.

The Supreme Court’s recent blunt reminder that rivers like the Yamuna are ‘national assets’ deserving protection should have shaken the political class awake. Instead, it merely restated what every citizen already sees: our rivers have been reduced to open sewers, their floodplains colonised, their beds choked with silt, and their waters poisoned by untreated waste. The court’s observations on the Yamuna could serve as a mirror for every major river in the country.