Indian cricketer Virat Kohli’s room was visually vandalised in Australia recently. During the ongoing T20 World Cup, a video went viral. A staff member of the hotel Crown Perth appeared to have filmed the inside of his hotel room in a blatant invasion of his privacy. Titled ‘King Kohli’s hotel room’, the video slowly pans over his personal belongings, the contents of his open suitcase and the items laid out on his nightstand even rummaging through an empty wardrobe in a bid to hunt down more of his personal possessions.
Kohli shared the video on Instagram and wrote: “I understand that fans get very happy and excited seeing their favourite players and get excited to meet them and I’ve always appreciated that. But this video here is appalling and it’s made me feel very paranoid about my privacy. If I cannot have privacy in my own hotel room, then where can I really expect any personal space at all?? I’m NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy. Please respect people’s privacy and not treat them as a commodity for entertainment.”
According to reports, Crown Perth, the hotel in which the Indian men’s cricket team was residing during their stay for the match against South Africa, has issued an apology after Virat Kohli shared the video shot by the fan himself. In the statement, the hotel wrote, “We unreservedly apologize to the guest involved and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure this remains an isolated incident. The individuals involved have been stood down and removed from the Crown account.”
Former Tata Steel MD Jamshed J Irani passes away
Former Managing Director of Tata Steel Dr Jamshed J Irani passed away on October 31 at a hospital in Jamshedpur. Padma Bhushan Dr Irani was associated with Tata Steel for over four decades. He retired from the board of Tata Steel in June 2011, leaving behind a legacy of 43 years, which won him and the Company international acclaim in various fields.
Born on June 2, 1936 at Nagpur to Jiji Irani and Khorshed Irani, Dr Irani completed his Bachelor of Science degree from Science College, Nagpur in 1956 and Master of Science degree in Geology from the Nagpur University in 1958. He then went to the University of Sheffield in UK as a J N Tata scholar where he secured a Masters in Metallurgy in 1960 and a PhD in Metallurgy in 1963.
He started his professional career with the British Iron and Steel Research Association in Sheffield in 1963 but always yearned to contribute to the Nation’s progress and returned to India to join the then The Tata Iron and Steel Company (now Tata Steel) in 1968, as Assistant to the Director in-charge of Research and Development. He went on to become General Superintendent in 1978, General Manager in 1979, and President of Tata Steel in 1985. He then became Joint Managing Director of Tata Steel in 1988, Managing Director in 1992 before retiring in 2001.
He joined the Board of Tata Steel in 1981 and was also a Non-Executive Director from 2001 for a decade. Besides Tata Steel and Tata Sons, Dr Irani also served as a Director of several Tata Group companies, including Tata Motors and Tata Teleservices.
Lula da Silva is back as Brazil President
Lula da Silva has won his ticket back to Brazil’s presidency, defeating dictatorial President Jair Bolsonaro on October 30. The voting was fierce in a tight race. With more than 99 per cent of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva has earned 50.9 per cent votes and Bolsonaro got 49.1 percent votes.
This was the country’s closest election in over three decades. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates with 99.5 per cent of the vote counted. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of 3.46 million votes.
It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.
Da Silva’s inauguration is scheduled to take place on January 1, 2023. He last served as president from 2003-2010.
In a speech at a hotel in downtown Sao Paulo, he said, “Today the only winner is the Brazilian people. This isn’t a victory of mine or the Workers’ Party, nor the parties that supported me in the campaign. It’s the victory of a democratic movement that formed above political parties, personal interests and ideologies so that democracy came out victorious.”
Anna May Wong is first Asian American on US currency
Late Hollywood actress and fashion icon Anna May Wong (1905-1961) became the first Asian American to feature on US currency. A quarter-dollar coin featuring a close-up image of Wong’s face chin resting on her hand began circulating from October 24, the US Mint said, as the fifth coin in the American Women Quarters (AWQ) Program.
Regarded as the film industry’s first Chinese-American star, Wong’s decades-long career in motion pictures, television and theatre came at a time of widespread racism. “Along with the hard work, determination, and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements next to her name,” said US mint designer Emily Damstra.
Born with the birth name Wong Liu-Tsong to second-generation Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles, Wong started her film career at the age of 14 as an extra in The Red Lantern (1919). She gained critical acclaim only three years later when she played the leading role in The Toll of the Sea (1922), one of the first Technicolour films.
