Communications/PR pro🗞️Hodophile🏝️Solivagant🚶‍♀️Sportsperson⛹️‍♀️Curious baker🥨Craft enthusiast🧶Photographer📸 Gardener🪴

Bangalore
Joined February 2009
Melissa Arulappan retweeted
I know you know this picture. All adult people who've carried some of the pain of this world for others do. 58 years ago this month, three men stood on an Olympic podium in Mexico City. Two of them, courageous to a level most people will never reach or even aspire to reach, became famous for raising their fists. The third didn't raise his fist. But he knew exactly what was happening. 16 October 1968. The Olympic Games in Mexico City. The United States is being torn apart by racial conflict. Martin Luther King has been murdered six months earlier. Black Americans are still fighting for rights that other Americans take for granted. Two American sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, have just won gold and bronze in the 200 metres. Between them stands a 26-year-old white Australian called Peter Norman. Norman has run the race of his life. He's won SILVER, beating Carlos, one of the overwhelming favourites. His time of 20.06 seconds is so astonishing that it will remain the Australian national record for another 56 years. He should be thinking about his medal, his future, the applause, the extraordinary doors that might open for him. But Smith and Carlos have something else on their minds. They're planning to protest racial injustice during the medal ceremony. In front of the entire world. And they tell Norman what they're going to do. Norman is Australian. The American civil rights movement isn't his fight. He could simply stand there, smile politely, collect his silver medal and go home. Nobody would ever know that he had been given an opportunity to demonstrate moral courage and declined it. But Norman asks the Americans what he can do to help. And he tells them: "I'll stand with you." There's a practical problem. Smith and Carlos have planned to wear black gloves, but Carlos has forgotten his pair. Norman suggests something beautifully simple. Why don't they share the remaining pair? One glove each. That's why, in the famous photograph, Smith raises his RIGHT fist and Carlos raises his LEFT. The Australian also finds himself an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge. He pins it to his tracksuit. And the three men step onto the podium. The American national anthem begins. Smith and Carlos bow their heads and raise their fists. Norman stands beside them. A small white man in an Australian tracksuit, wearing a tiny badge. It doesn't look particularly spectacular. No shouting. No violence. No great revolutionary speech. Just three men saying, in their own ways, that human beings deserve to be treated as human beings. And the sporting establishment goes NUTS. Smith and Carlos are expelled from the Games. They're denounced, threatened and treated as traitors for daring to make people uncomfortable during a sporting event. Norman returns to Australia. His country has its own ugly history of racial exclusion, particularly concerning its Indigenous population. And there are plenty of Australians who aren't particularly thrilled that their Olympic silver medallist has associated himself with two Black American protesters. Norman encounters hostility and ostracism in parts of the sporting world. Four years later, he isn't selected for the Munich Olympics. Norman never repudiates what he did. Peter Norman dies in 2006, aged 64. At his funeral in Melbourne, two men have travelled all the way from America. Tommie Smith. John Carlos. The two Black American athletes he had supported 38 years earlier. And they carry his coffin. Carlos told the mourners that Norman hadn't stood in front of them or behind them. He had stood WITH them. In 2012, the Australian Parliament finally apologised for Norman's treatment and its failure to recognise his courage while he was alive. Forty-four years after the protest. Six years after the man was dead. One day governments will offer apologies to journalists sacked for holding Israeli officials' feet to the fire. Hopefully before they die.
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To all celebrating today
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Just got confirmation of my third flight compensation+reimbursement for the year! All three European/UK airlines - two were cancellation related and one a delayed flight. Know your rights, keep a record of your expenses, and don't give up. The EU system works well #Travel
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Melissa Arulappan retweeted
Every year on Oct 15, I think, with some sadness, about an Indian cricketer and tennis player (and Cambridge Blue) who just vanished after stepping out of his home in Adyar in Madras. Wrote about him last year. swarajyamag.com/amp/story/sp…
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Melissa Arulappan retweeted
The horse carriage industry is coming to an end in New York City. Our administration will make sure workers and owners are protected and the horses are safe.
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Melissa Arulappan retweeted
Racist messages such as those targeting #tennis player @CocoGauff online are appalling and illustrate that Black female athletes are specifically targeted for vitriol and racial abuse. There is no place in sport for racial or sexist slurs and abuse. Players, coaches, and sports bodies need to stand up for those facing such attacks and fans need to push back against those who sully sport with racism and sexism.
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There was a time when it was only telephone directories
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Congratulations @SjoerdMarijne - what an incredible comeback for you and the team!
𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟰𝟰-𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥, 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡'𝗦 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗚𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗠𝗘𝗗𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗦! 🇮🇳🥇 A 1-0 victory over World No. 4 China in the final seals a historic gold medal for the Indian Women’s Team, securing their second Asian Games title and their first since 1982! ❤️ Lalremsiami's 10th minute goal proves to be the winner! The triumph also secures India a direct qualification to the LA 2028 Olympics. 🇮🇳🏑 #HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #AsianGames2026 #AichiNagoya2026
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Reading so many accounts of how poorly managed this event was - bad publicity for Wipro
Today's Wipro Bengaluru run was organised very badly. Right from Kilometre 6 till 16/17, no water at any of the water stations. It was a post-apocalyptic scene, watching people reach out and empty every water-can just for a sip. For 10 kilometres, people ran underhydrated, even buying water from the very few shops open on a curfewed Sunday morning. And all this, right at the most gruelling part of the run near the MG Road flyover. For full marathoners, this was their kilometre 25-35 stretch. Looking at everyone panting, I was genuinely scared of witnessing a cardiac arrest. Even the toilets were so less in number and arranged so far apart, there were long queues. I heard there were traffic jams too outside the Kanteerava stadium. Is this how our sporting and active culture is going to be? At the bib collection, they gave every runner a useless booklet that claims that this run is among the Top 50 in the world. Thank you for proving it today.
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When I read reviews like this in Deccan Herald yesterday, I often wonder - is the writer’s intent to provide the average reader a perspective that helps them make a decision to watch or not or is it the writer trying to show off their way with words. I read it twice & gave up!
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A rape in a Delhi park; a masturbating passenger on United Airlines; a rape case filed against several Cornell students. The response - parks enforce entry timings, a woman is forced back to her seat, students write essays as punishment. Yes, punish the women for it all
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How bad is @FlySWISS. I have been trying to get a refund for a flight booked. I am entitled to the full 100% & they have given me less than 10%. Every call, chat, message ends with them asking me to wait 5-7 days - it's now more than a month. This is clear cheating
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I’m now piecing it together. I paid about 13-14% using my points & the rest by card. Despite this reflecting on the card, my sharing my card statement debit, etc they have mixed both up & still insisting the 13-14% they reimbursed is my card payment. Talk of Swiss efficiency!
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KLM makes very clear announcements that power banks are not to be used in-flight and yet their own CEO ignores the advisory
Former KLM CEO’s power bank catches fire on a KLM flight to Curaçao, causing the plane to turn around and return to Amsterdam. The incident on Thursday on board KL735 occurred after 5.5 hours into its journey when the pilot turned around over the Atlantic Ocean and head back to Schiphol Airport. The fire was quickly noticed, and the crew managed to extinguish it. No one was hurt, a spokesperson for the airline said. KLM allows passengers to carry up to two power banks. They must be kept in hand luggage and remain visible, and passengers are not allowed to use or charge them on board.
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This has caused a huge uproar in the sports community. Wonder how Puma whose brand she endorses & was launching a new shoe for will respond? A PR nightmare for any brand
An Australian athlete, Joanna Wietrzyk, reportedly suffered sudden fecal incontinence due to intense physical stress during the Women’s Pro race at HYROX Beijing but continued competing and won with a time of 1:01:23. HYROX China said the affected lanes were immediately closed and isolated, contaminated equipment was removed, and the area was disinfected before the carpets were replaced and the venue received a deep cleaning. After the race, Wietrzyk reportedly shared a selfie from a hospital bed with the message, “A win is a win.” (📸: Getty, Joanna Wietrzyk)
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Three wonderful days at the inaugural world athletics ultimate championship in Budapest. It will be a game changer for track and field
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To those celebrating…
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Delighted to have been there and watched his winning performance
Rumesh Pathirage has crossed 90m yet again. Throws 91.09m to beat Anderson Peters (86.18m) and Julian Weber (85.89m) in the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest. What a year he's having!! P.S. Arshad Nadeem was in the competition too, and finished 5th (81.49m)
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Was so thrilled to have experienced it
The inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship delivered world-leading marks, national records and performances among the best in history. Three nights of world-class athletics in Budapest. 🔗aboutrun.com/world-athletics… 📸: Laszlo Zsigmond
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