Beef, parotta and protest
In Kerala’s Kochi, a group of Canara Bank employees decided Thursday was not just another working day.
When their newly appointed regional manager allegedly banned beef at the office canteen, the staffers replied with a full-on “beef fest” right outside the branch. Beef, parotta, and protest all served hot.
The man at the centre of the storm is deputy regional manager Ashwini Kumar, recently transferred from Bihar. According to employees, Kumar has managed to upset staff twice already, first with alleged harassment and then with his food diktat.
Initially, the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) had planned a protest over Kumar’s behaviour. But the beef ban changed the menu.
As BEFI leader S.S. Anil put it, “A small canteen operates here, and beef is served on select days. The manager informed the canteen staff that beef should no longer be served. This bank functions according to the guidelines of the Constitution. Food is a personal choice. In India, every individual has the right to choose their food. We are not forcing anyone to eat beef. This is simply our form of protest.”
The bank’s central leadership has stayed mum
Kerala has seen this before. In 2017, after the Centre banned the sale of cattle for slaughter, “beef festivals” erupted across the state. For Malayalis, beef is not a debate, it’s dinner.
Data shows it’s the most popular meat in the state, eaten by Hindus, Christians, Muslims alike.
Not broken, just sitting down
In Kathua, a bridge that slumped under the strain of time and illegal mining has sparked more laughter than panic, thanks to a leader’s unique explanation.
In a viral video, he corrected reporters and locals, insisting that the bridge was neither “broken” nor “cracked.” Instead, he said, “The bridge has just sat down.”
Apparently, this wasn’t an engineering failure but a case of the structure simply taking a seat after years of standing tall.
He even urged people to “correct their vocabulary” before criticising the government.
Social media wasted no time. One user joked, “The bridge must have been tired from standing for so long; it just needed a break.”
Another wrote, “My heart wasn’t broken either, just like this bridge, it sat down on its own.”
For now, the bridge continues its rest, while locals try to adjust their vocabulary and their routes to match this new reality.
Bike ambulance
A group of friends in Gwalior decided that if their buddy was going to be stuck in a hospital bed with a saline line plugged into his arm, then so be it.. they’d unplug the location, not the drip for a joyride.
A motorbike speeds down an empty street at night. In front, the rider leans into the wind. In the middle, the patient…saline still running. At the back, another friend holds up the IV bottle like it’s the Olympic torch. There were no helmets in their friendship. Someone else followed with a camera, making sure this medical trip got archived for social media eternity.
After a quick spin around town, the group returned their patient to the hospital bed, saline line intact. As if nothing unusual had happened..except a video now watched by thousands, posted first from an account called “Hook.”
The drip-ride has now sparked a flood of likes, comments, and memes. Some called it comedy gold, others tagged it as reckless youth at its finest.
Power of love, literally
Our man waited for his partner to pick up. Ring after ring, no answer. Some would sulk. Some would send passive-aggressive texts. But not him. Our man went straight for the fuse box of destiny.
In a video now making rounds online, he can be seen halfway up an electric pole, pliers in hand, wires like spaghetti dangling all around. A few cuts later, the entire village went dark.
The motive, as reports say, was that the partner’s phone was busy. Busy enough to shut down an entire grid.
One X user said, “Aashiq apni nass kaatte hai, isne gaon ki nass kaat di (Lovers hurt themselves, he has hurt the village).
The clip’s authenticity isn’t confirmed, but the internet didn’t wait for official verification.
But somewhere out there, our man is still waiting for a call back. The village is still waiting for electricity.
Google Maps takes a beating in Kanpur
In Kanpur’s Birhar village, technology collided head-on with trust issues. A Google Maps survey team, out to chart the lanes with their camera-mounted vehicle, ended up dodging punches.
The locals, already on edge after recent thefts, saw the futuristic-looking car with cameras spinning like alien antennas and concluded that a Hollywood style heist was going on. Within minutes, they blocked the vehicles, surrounded the techies, and the mapping exercise turned into a thrashing exercise.
It took the police to separate the two sides, escorting both villagers and employees to the station, where the Google Maps team patiently explained that they were not plotting a robbery but updating the world’s most downloaded navigation app.
Villagers, who had mistaken “street view” for “street fight,” calmed down.
No case was filed, though the irony remains: the team had permission from the DGP but not from Birhar’s panchayat of suspicion.