Starting this week, Pune365 will feature an exclusive new column that will bring you news and other interesting reads that you may have missed out on.
#Oddly Enough will pick five stories a week that ought to have been read but possibly went unnoticed in television and print media. These pieces will range from news, art, pop-culture and technology to even fiction.
Here are this week’s most interesting reads:
Books and Refugees – A Syrian couple’s adventure in Istanbul
After fleeing Damascus, Gulnar Hajo and Samer Kadri’s love for Arabic literature knew no bounds. They started Pages Bookstore Café, a bookstore and now a culture centre that houses workshops, art exhibitions, music events and much more for the Arab community. This is a warm story about how people work towards preserving their culture and community. As Hajo says in the interview, many Arabs are expected to leave their culture behind as they lack self-confidence to maintain who they are.
You can read this story on Al Jazeera.
Pyramid Seven – Menstruation beyond gender
Pyramid Seven is a Chicago-based company that has invented a new line of organic cotton boxer briefs for people identifying as trans or gender non-conforming. This new initiative helps to evolve the understanding around menstruation which isn’t directly linked to gender. The founder talks about how the underwear is made to be more inclusive of all bodies while expanding the conversation around the issue of gender. People from varying genders and identities also menstruate but this idea has always been rooted in the typical fixed understanding of gender.
You can read more on this at B*tch Media.
Peggy Whitson – 665 days in space
Astronaut Peggy Whitson has broken and set multiple records while in space to become the world’s oldest spacewoman, 57, and the world’s most experienced spacewalker, 10. She returned to Earth on September 2 craving for pizza and the urge to use a regular flush toilet. Out of the 665 days in space, she spent 288 days on this mission alone. Along with her scientific research in space, Whitson found the time to experiment with freeze-dried food and even saw tortillas transform into apple pies.
More on this at Associated Press.
Rohingya Muslims – Refugees face deportation threat from India
The Supreme Court will hear a plea against India’s plan to deport Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar. Rohingya Muslims are an ethnic minority from Myanmar that have been facing persecution and bloodshed since years. As a result of this, many of them are settling as refugees in countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, UAE, Thailand and Malaysia. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home has said that India may deport the community despite being a signatory to several international conventions that bar them from doing so. Turkey has called on Bangladesh to open its doors to all Rohingya Muslims and even said that they would pay for the expenses.
Read the details on Al Jazeera and Hindustan Times.
Murder mystery – Death of a journalist
A headless body that washed up ashore was identified as Kim Wall’s. She was a Swedish independent journalist whose work has been widely published in The New York Times, Vice and TIME among many. On August 10, Ms Wall boarded a submarine along with its Danish inventor, Peter Madsen. She never returned. She was reported missing on August 11 and her body was found ten days later. Madsen’s story recounting their meeting has changed twice over. He has since maintained that there was an accident and he ‘buried her at sea’. Madsen is now charged with manslaughter.
You can read more about Kim Wall and her work on TIME, The Guardian and Vice.
Watch out for more interesting lists from #OddlyEnough, A Pune365 Exclusive!
#Pune365 has curated this content from the media sources credited.
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