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👋 Hi friends,
Welcome to the latest edition of Newley’s Notes, a weekly newsletter containing my recent Wall Street Journal stories, must-read links on tech and life, and funny dog videos.
Image of the week, above:
Friday March 29th marked one year since our WSJ colleague Evan Gershkovich was wrongly detained in Russia. This was our powerful page one to mark the anniversary. He should be released immediately.
My WSJ latest
I had a couple stories out recently that relate to India.
🤳 The first, with my excellent colleague Vibhuti Agarwal: India’s TikTok Ban Is a Cautionary Tale for the U.S. 🎁 <– Gift link
The lede:
NEW DELHI—Gayatari Mohanty always wanted to be a dancer. But her father, who washes cars for a living, and her mother, a domestic helper, didn’t have enough money for lessons. So the 19-year-old New Delhi native taught herself.
One day in 2019, Mohanty discovered TikTok. She and a friend were drawn to the platform’s lighthearted videos. They often rushed home from school to upload clips of Mohanty’s spirited dancing to retro Bollywood songs from the 1960s and 70s.
Soon Mohanty had gained some 5,000 followers. That didn’t make her a star or earn her any money, but it was enough to boost her confidence.
“My skill gave me my biggest achievement in life,” she said. “TikTok became my stage where I could show my dancing skills and get appreciated for it.”
That all ended suddenly the next year, when India’s government banned the Chinese short video-sharing titan, citing cybersecurity concerns.
“It felt like a personal loss, like someone close to me was no more,” she said.
The South Asian nation provides a case study in what happens when the wildly popular service goes away, as it might in the U.S.
👉 And the second, a scoop out March 29 that was widely read, commented on, and picked by other news outlets: Fired Americans Say Indian Firm Gave Their Jobs to H-1B Visa Holders 🎁 <– Gift link
It begins:
A U.S. visa program for skilled foreign workers has long stoked concerns over American workers losing their jobs to lower-paid foreigners. Now a group of experienced American professionals is accusing an Indian outsourcing giant of firing them on short notice and filling many of their roles with workers from India on H1-B visas.
The American workers say that India’s Tata Consultancy Services illegally discriminated against them based on their race and age, firing them and shifting some of their work to lower-paid Indian immigrants on temporary work visas.
Since late December, at least 22 workers have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against TCS, whose clients have included dozens of the U.S.’s biggest companies.
Here are 10 items worth your time this week:
1) ☀️ It’s solar eclipse day! If you’re watching from North America, here’s a real time map from NASA.
2) 🔎 Has alleged organized crime boss Christopher Kinahan been inadvertently revealing his whereabouts in Google reviews?
3) 🗣️ Author Paul Tough on his son’s unexpected obsession with learning Russian.
4) 🥾 On the rise of hiking app AllTrails.
5) 🪐 Interactive graphic: how a space elevator would work.
6) 🐐 I love these family portraits of farm animals.
7) 🐻 Also: here are photos of bears riding in a swan boat.
8) 🇧🇪 Belgium’s football association created a special version of its national team kit dedicated to cartoonist Hergé’s Tintin character.
9) 🎶 Three words: Boston Typewriter Orchestra.
10) 🎼 And four more: “The Sound of Knitting.”
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🦴 Dog-related video of the week:
“this golden retriever is a professional at swimming”
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💡 Quote of the week:
“Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will.” — Greg Mckeown
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👊 Fist bump from Hong Kong,
Newley