If you were hoping for a diplomatic bromance, you may want to sit down first (preferably with popcorn). Because the saga of Donald Trump and India reads less like a buddy-movie and more like a tragicomedy with tariff grenades and surprise plot twists.

Donald Trump, “Friend of India”? More Like Frenemy With Benefits

“Being an enemy of the USA is dangerous, but being a friend is fatal.”

— Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger must’ve had a crystal ball because Donald Trump has turned his quote into a real-life experiment—starring India. Because if friendship were a Netflix series, Trump’s role is less “best buddy” and more “that toxic ex who says sweet things but maxes out your credit card.”   

The Indian Cheerleaders’ Dream Team

When Trump first got elected, Indians practically broke their wrists clapping. Indians threw rallies in New Jersey chanting “Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar,” as if Modi and Trump were about to start a boy band together. He praised Modi, he praised Indians, he even mangled Hindi at rallies. For a moment, it looked like a match made in diplomatic heaven.

 

But fast-forward past his re-election, and what did India get? Not hugs, not trade deals, not Bollywood cameos—just tariffs, deportations, and lectures. Indians were like fans at a cricket match cheering their hero, only to find out he switched sides mid-innings. The bromance was downgraded to a one-way situationship.

Tariff Tantrums: Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue, India Pay 50% Or Screw You

Trump’s idea of friendship comes with an invoice. His administration slapped punitive tariffs on Indian exports—sometimes up to 50%. That’s not a “deal,” that’s daylight robbery with paperwork.

 

And when India bought Russian oil to keep its economy alive, Trump basically said: “Stop it, or I’ll ground you.” Never mind that the U.S. and Europe were swimming in Russian gas like it was a pool party. India, apparently, had to stick to coconut water.

Deportation Airlines: Non-Stop Service, Chains Included

As if tariffs weren’t romantic enough, Trump sent around 100 Indians back home on a U.S. military plane—handcuffed and leg-chained. Imagine being treated like hardened criminals, when your only crime was chasing the “American Dream.” If this is how friends are treated, enemies must be getting spa vouchers.

Pakistan: The Side Chick With Minerals

And then—plot twist! While India was being slapped with tariffs and sanctions, Trump was busy cozying up to Pakistan.

• White House invites for Shehbaz Sharif
• Trade and energy deals on the table
• Pakistan offering rare earth minerals like it’s selling kebabs at a street fair

Critics even say Trump’s family business interests in Pakistan greased these decisions . Translation: geopolitics, but make it retail.

It’s like India thought it was in a monogamous relationship, only to find Trump secretly swiping right on Pakistan for access to rare earths.

The Friendship Math: India Gets Tariffs, Pakistan Gets Selfies

Let’s tally this up:

• India: tariffs, deportations, sanctions.
• Pakistan: trade deals, hugs, and Trump family LinkedIn endorsements.

This is less “Art of the Deal” and more “Art of Playing Both Sides Until Someone Pays for My Golf Course.”

 

Final Plot Twist

So what have we learned?

• Kissinger was right—being America’s “friend” can be fatal.

• Indians who cheered Trump got scorn, tariffs, and deportations in return.

• Trump’s “bestie” act with Modi turned out to be more like a one-sided WhatsApp chat.

But here’s the kicker: if India, a resourceful country with a trillion-dollar economy, is being kicked around like this by Trump the “friend,” imagine what will happen to Pakistan once his personal interests dry up. India can absorb pressure, recalibrate, and push back. Pakistan? Not so much. When Trump moves on, Islamabad may be left holding nothing but promises and overdue invoices.

So yes, Trump might be India’s “friend.” But if this is friendship, enemies are probably better off.

Image courtesy: Google

Bodyguard (BBC, 2018) – A Thriller That Keeps You Gasping

Bodyguard is an adrenaline shot of a TV series. Richard Madden delivers a career-best performance as a troubled protection officer assigned to Keeley Hawes' brilliantly sharp Home Secretary. The chemistry is electric, the political conspiracy is gripping, and the tension is relentless from the very first minute.

Bodyguard Review: This BBC Show Has More Drama Than Your Punjabi Family Wedding

Let's be real. We've all seen enough saas-bahu sagas to know a good plot twist from a mile away. But nothing prepares you for the pure, unadulterated dhamaal of the BBC’s Bodyguard. This isn't just a show; it's a six-episode-long adrenaline rush that makes your average family function look like a yoga session.

The Main Players:

• David Budd (Richard Madden): Richard Madden (yes, Robb Stark from Game of Thrones) plays David Budd, a war veteran turned protection officer. His default setting? Brooding stare, clenched jaw, and the vibe of a man who hasn’t smiled since dial-up internet.                                           
  
  

• Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes): The Home Secretary. She’s that sharp, powerful aunty at the party who everyone is secretly scared of. You know the type—she runs the kitty party, the government, and probably has a 20-year plan for her son's life. You hate her politics but you have to respect her style.

Plot Twists That Burn More Calories Than the Gym

Every episode comes with at least one “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!” moment. Miss a second, and you’ll be googling plot summaries at 3 AM like a confused detective.

Why You'll BingE It in One Night:

1. The First 20 Mins: The show starts with a bomb on a train. By the time it's over, you'll have finished the entire packet of chips you opened "just to snack on" and will be yelling "YAAR!" at your screen. Your mum will come in and ask if you're watching another Salman Khan movie.
2.  The ‘Kya Yehi Sach Hai?’ Factor: Just when you think you've figured out the villain (Is it the PA? The guy in the grey coat? That suspicious-looking uncle?), the show throws a twist bigger than the one in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Your family WhatsApp group will have zero updates because everyone is too busy watching.
3.  The ‘Will They, Won’t They?’: The tension between Budd and Julia isn't just sexual, it's political. It's the TV equivalent of watching two rival aunties slowly become best friends at a wedding. You don't trust it, but you can't look away.
   
   
   

Spoiler-Free Survival Guide

1.  Do not blink. That one-second glance at your phone? Congratulations, you’ve missed three betrayals.
2.  Stock up on snacks. This isn’t a “watch while cooking dinner” kind of show. You’ll burn dinner. Possibly twice.
3.  Mute group chats. Explaining Bodyguard plot twists mid-episode is like teaching calculus to a goldfish.

Final Verdict

WATCH IT. Cancel your plans. Ignore your mum’s calls. This show has more suspense than waiting for your exam results and more drama than deciding where to order dinner from. It’s the best thing to happen to television since that one time Kapil Sharma had a really good episode. 

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5 ‘Arre Baap Re!’ Moments)

The ending gets a bit… confusing. The conspiracy becomes so layered, you'll need a whiteboard to explain it to your dad. It’s like a Givinda movie plot—just accept it and enjoy the ride.

Images: Google Images

🥊 Book Review: Win Your Inner Battles by Darius Foroux

You know that annoying voice in your head that says things like, “Don’t go to the gym, just eat one more samosa”? Well, Darius Foroux has basically written a guidebook on how to slap that voice into silence. 

Win Your Inner Battles by Darius Foroux

 How to defeat the laziest, most annoying enemy of all time—you.

Introduction: The Enemy Within (Spoiler: It’s You)

Let's be honest. Your mind is a chaotic place. It's less of a serene library and more of a chaotic group chat where one member is panicking about a work deadline, another is wondering if birds have knees, and a third is just replaying that embarrassing thing you did in 2007 on a loop.

We all have an internal circus, and the clowns are running the show. Enter Darius Foroux’s Win Your Inner Battles. Think of it less as a book and more as a boot camp for your brain, where Foroux plays the role of a no-nonsense, yet strangely compassionate, drill sergeant.

What’s the Book About? (Other Than Ruining Procrastination Excuses)

Foroux doesn’t waste time. He cuts to the chase: Your life is essentially the result of the battles you win—or lose—inside your own head. Procrastination? That's a battle lost to the part of you that would rather watch videos of dogs failing to catch treats. Anxiety? That's your inner doomsday prepper winning the argument against your inner optimist.

At its core, the book says: Life isn’t about fighting the world—it’s about fighting yourself. Every chapter is packed with practical tips to:

• Stop letting fear paralyze you.

• Handle negative thoughts like spam emails.

• Focus on what actually matters (and not your 47th WhatsApp notification).

• Build habits that last longer than your New Year’s resolutions.

Foroux doesn’t preach from an ivory tower. He admits he’s struggled too, which makes the whole thing refreshingly real. It’s not “guru wisdom,” it’s “I messed up too, here’s what worked for me.”

The Fun Part: Why It’s Actually Worth Reading

1. Short and Sweet – You can finish it in a weekend, or in two days if you read faster than you scroll Instagram reels.
2. Zero Fluff – No endless storytelling about monks in Tibet or billionaires waking up at 4 a.m. Just straight-up advice.
3. Relatable Humor – You’ll catch yourself thinking, “Yep, that’s me” at least ten times.
4. Actionable – It doesn’t just motivate you for five minutes—it gives you stuff you can actually do.

What I Loved (And What I Didn’t)

✅ Loved: How the book makes you feel like progress is actually doable. I even closed YouTube once while reading. (Once. Don’t ask about the next day.)
❌ Didn’t Love: It won’t do the work for you. After finishing, you still have to fight laziness on your own. Sad.

Final Verdict: Should You Read It?

If your biggest battles are with snooze buttons, comfort zones, or that voice that says “start tomorrow,” this book is your pep talk in paperback. It won’t magically make you a productivity ninja, but it will hand you the mental weapons to stop losing to… yourself.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (4.5/5)

Because even after reading, I still lost the battle against samosas. Some wars are eternal.

Ah, dogs. Loyal, loving, tail-wagging bundles of joy. Man’s best friend, they said. But in India? Turns out they’re also man’s loudest courtroom case, biggest protest march, and latest breaking-news debate. Honestly, if Netflix doesn’t make a series called Stray Wars: The Bark Awakens, they’re missing out.

Street Dogs vs. Humans: The Greatest Soap Opera India Never Asked For 🐕🔥

“Dogs are man’s best friend,” they said. Sweet, loyal, brave, honest — the furry version of the friend who never forgets your birthday. And honestly, dogs deserve that title. They’ll protect you, cheer you up, and wag their tails at you even if you look like you just crawled out of a Monday.

 

But here’s the plot twist nobody saw coming: in India, the best friend has suddenly turned into… the most controversial neighbor.

Dogs are man’s best friend… until they’re chasing your Activa at 40 km/h or staging WWE auditions with your Zomato delivery guy.

Act 1: The Love Story ❤️

Since forever, dogs have been the gold standard of loyalty. They guard homes, star in emotional Instagram reels, and listen to your rants without once asking, “Bhai, why don’t you go to therapy?”

So it’s no surprise that India has a die-hard fan club of dog lovers. Aunties with biscuit packets, uncles who treat feeding strays as their second religion, and activists who know more about Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act than about their own electricity bills.

For them, dogs aren’t strays. They’re street citizens with equal rights — like voting, but with more barking.

Act 2: The Chase Scene 🎬🏍️

But then there’s the other half of India. The ones who’ve been ambushed mid-jog, the kids who now walk to school like they’re crossing a warzone, and the poor Zomato delivery guys who deserve bravery medals for surviving daily dog vs. bike chase sequences.

If Bollywood made a movie on Indian streets, half the scenes would be slo-mo shots of dogs chasing scooters. The background music? “Who Let the Dogs Out,” obviously.

And let’s not even talk about the 11 p.m. pack howling sessions. You can meditate, pray, or play white noise on Spotify — doesn’t matter. The dogs will out-sing you every time.

Act 3: Enter the Supreme Court ⚖️

So the Supreme Court decided to play peacemaker. Their idea? Confine street dogs to certain areas.
Adorable. Really. As if dogs carry Aadhaar cards and Google Maps. Street dogs don’t do boundaries. They’ll cross highways, sneak into temples, and yes, guard tea stalls like it’s their ancestral property.

Act 4: The Middle Path 🛣️

Now here’s the unfunny truth: culling dogs is cruel, dumb, and a PR disaster. But ignoring attacks? Equally dumb. Rabies doesn’t care if you’re a dog lover, dog hater, or just an innocent Swiggy guy with a biryani order.

So what’s left? The boring but obvious stuff:

• Mass sterilization and vaccination drives (yes, it works).

• Proper shelters that aren’t just “fancy names for garbage dumps.”

• Public awareness campaigns so feeding strays doesn’t mean “dumping chicken bones in your neighbor’s lane.”

• And hey, maybe hold municipalities accountable instead of just holding placards.

Naturally, activists hit the streets screaming “Save the dogs!” Meanwhile, residents shouted back “Save the humans!” If aliens landed during one of these protests, they’d assume India is in the middle of a full-blown human vs. dog civil war.

The Punchline 🎤

India doesn’t really have a dog problem. We have a people problem. We love easy outrage, dramatic protests, and colony WhatsApp fights. But responsibility? That we outsource to fate, karma, or the Supreme Court.

Until we figure it out, the cycle continues:
One half of India feeding biscuits, the other half getting rabies shots… and the dogs?
They’ll keep chasing bikes like they’re auditioning for Fast & Furious: Paw Drift.

Image Courtesy: Google

The consumer culture, in unholy alliance with the media, has spoon-fed us the idea that marriage is just an extended honeymoon with better furniture. In reality, marriage is about responsibilities. It’s about sharing each other’s lives and nudging each other toward being better humans—sometimes gently, sometimes with the force of a cricket bat to the ego.

Marriage in India: The Horror Story No Bollywood Film Warned You About

(A survival manual disguised as an article)

 

Someone once said, “Marriage has nothing to do with romance.” They were right. In fact, if romance is a bird, marriage is the closed window it smashes into, followed by a very awkward silence.

For years, Bollywood and advertising have pumped our heads full of fairy tales: marry the one you love, life will be a forever honeymoon, and you’ll dance in the rain without catching flu. But here’s the ugly truth—marriage is less about holding hands and more about holding a plumber’s number because the geyser died at 6 a.m.
 
I know it seems alarming, but divorce among Indians is no longer considered taboo. The situation has altered considerably over the past ten years due to a variety of factors, one of which is the lopsided laws against married men. To those who are unaware of the ground realities, India's divorce rate is rising and is among the highest in the world.

 

The Bollywood Trap for Men

Boys grow up thinking they must be part Shah Rukh Khan, part Salman Khan, and part Swiss Bank account. The movies convince them that being a good husband means always being romantic, rich, and patient enough to listen to long emotional speeches about curtains.
 
Reality check: marriage is 90% responsibility, 9% compromise, and 1% deciding where to order food from without starting World War III.
 
Though there are laws in place to protect married women from domestic violence abuse in India, no equivalent law exists to protect married males. According to statistics, they are frequently harassed, assaulted, and even killed by their wives/intimate partners. The saddest thing is that they have no place to report physical abuse. 

When Good Men End Badly

We’ve seen it—AI engineers, HR managers, Merchant Navy officers… men with brilliant careers, reduced to emotional rubble because they married the wrong person.
 
Men's abuse and husband murders are no longer a rarity; they are widespread and prevalent in all segments of society.

Men, this is not a decision to make casually or under family pressure. You are not a marriage lottery ticket. You are a human being with mental and physical health worth protecting.

 

Romance Is Temporary—Character Is Permanent

Pre-marriage communication isn’t foolproof, but it’s your best weapon. Smile when you hear “I love you,” but don’t believe it like a WhatsApp forward. Instead, watch and observe:
 

• How do they behave when angry?

• How do they handle disagreement—calm talk or emotional nuclear war?

• What are their views on morality, crime, and justice?

• Do they care about values, or only about vibes?

• How do they treat their own family and friends?

 
Talk. Discuss. Debate. Disagree. Repeat. You’re not just looking for someone to share Netflix with—you’re looking for someone who won’t turn your life into a psychological horror series.
 
Remember, even government data reveals that Indian women are increasingly abusing laws to settle disagreements. This is not limited to married women exclusively. There are blatant misuse of laws that ladies employ to extort money or achieve other ulterior goals. 

 

The Harsh Truth

Social media has weaponized “perfect couple” photos to make normal relationships feel broken. Patience has evaporated, expectations have exploded, and laws plus financial pressure have made men extra cautious.
 
Marriage can still be beautiful, yes—but only when it’s chosen wisely, not out of pressure, fear of missing out, or because “shaadi ka season chal raha hai.”
 
Men, remember: choosing a life partner isn’t about finding your “forever love story.” It’s about avoiding a perfectly avoidable tragedy.