Best of the Week | The power of words

Dear reader,

In journalism school, we were taught that the words we write or speak have great power. After all, it is called “mass” media. 

Take, for example, comparing someone to a donkey. This colloquial comparison might seem harmless; after all, donkeys are known to be dumber than their equestrian counterparts. But the truth is that they are stubborn, rather than unintelligent. This stubbornness is often mistaken for stupidity, and thus, the phrase ‘donkey brains’ was born as an insult.

Unfortunately, we've seen multiple instances of humans beating donkeys up. That stems from this phrase, and this larger belief that donkeys are dumb. And even if they aren't as intelligent as other animals, somehow society has deemed it okay to beat on them to prove a point.

Another example of needing to use language carefully is the phrase “social pariah”. The phrase essentially refers to someone being an outcast. The word ‘pariah’ originates from Paraiyar, a caste group from Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They were unfortunately considered as a ‘lower’ caste, and deemed untouchable. Growing use of the word ‘pariah’ led to the creation of the phrase.

Of course, languages are constantly evolving. Very early on in my life, I'd mastered something called a T9 dictionary, which allowed me to typ lyk dis. I'd like to believe that it was for the sake of saving money while texting, but I can't promise that.

Lexicons evolve, for better or for worse. But it wouldn't hurt for us to be a little mindful of it.

On that note, let's take a look at the best stories published by Mint's staff this past week:

🚀 Rocket science is generally hard, which is why any achievements made in this vast and expensive field should be celebrated. Elon Musk's SpaceX has innovated space travel by using mechanical 'chopsticks' to catch one of its rocket boosters midair, so the booster can be reused for other rockets. Leslie D'Monte writes that this would reduce the costs and turnaround time of future rockets. Moreover, this achievement could boost Musk's financial and strategic positions by lowering launch costs and speeding up operations.

🎟️ There's a new events player in the market: Zomato. The food delivery company is working on a new app named District that will focus on booking and ticketing live events. And why not? Demand for premium live events in India grew by 82% last year. But Soumya Gupta (who is our newest Long Story writer!) details that other companies in the space don't particularly make a lot of money. Live events are a tough business, but if the recent fiasco for concert tickets shows anything, there is clearly a market for this.

✈️ You know what else is a tough business? Running an airline. If you've been at the helm of two different airlines that have since perished, I wouldn't have thought that you would get a chance to run a third. But that's the good fortune of Vinay Dube, the CEO of Akasa Air. Dube was the CEO of Jet Airways when it folded, and the CEO for a short period at Go First right before it filed for bankruptcy. Third time's the charm, they say. But Nehal Chaliawala and Mihir Mishra write that Akasa, too, has a major thorn in its back: its fleet. Despite effectively being the third largest airline in India (if you consider Air India and Vistara to be one), Akasa's pure Boeing 737 Max is prone to repeated issues. Read this story for an overview of the youngest, and to some extent, most interesting airline in India at the moment.

🇮🇳🇨🇦 India and Canada continued to exchange barbs by expelling diplomats from each other's countries. Canada had listed six Indian diplomats as “persons of interest” into the killing of a Sikh activist. Elizabeth Roche writes that the two countries share a trade business of more than $10 billion, but things could change quickly after this decision. Read this primer to understand why the issue escalated recently, and how it might affect India.

🗳️ Ever since the general election happened earlier this year, exit polls have gotten a bad rap. That got worse after the recently concluded state elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Any discrepancy will give rise to a host of conspiracy theories; the trust in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) is lowering, found our survey. We invited Rahul Verma and Melvin Kunjumon from the Centre for Policy Research to poll and make sense of some polls. By and large, people are still in support of EVMs, but where do they stand on the media and exit polls? Read this to find out.

💰 Retail investors are washing their hands off Adani Group stocks. Mayur Bhalerao writes that fresh allegations by Hindenburg Research this year have spooked investors. However, the group's share prices remained stable as larger institutional investors continued to plow more money into Adani stocks.

🌇 Sashind Ningthoukhongjam decided to contribute to the buy-versus-rent debate by pitting Warren Buffett against Shah Rukh Khan. The former has not upgraded his house since 1958, while the latter has advised other stars to buy a house out of their means to remain hungry. Sashind spoke to three families who had some money to spare but decided to take Buffett's approach. They are putting their money towards other expenses and investments instead of spending it all on a new home.

📉 The country's biggest listed company presented its quarterly earnings report this week. Investors didn't like it too much: Reliance Industries' share price dropped by 2% on Tuesday alone. Its oils-to-chemicals business remains its biggest pain point: Ebidta has fallen 19% year-on-year. Manish Joshi writes that despite this shortfall, Jio did quite well for RIL. There is significant upside for Jio for the coming quarter, while Reliance's retail business is trending upwards too. Investors might not be too happy with the latest results, but future quarters might see much a better outcome for RIL.

🥜 How much does bhujiya cost? According to Haldiram, around $10 billion. The leading snack-maker was earlier considering a majority sale, but Sneha Shah reports that the company is now only looking to sell a smaller stake. This new direction has still attracted interest from investors like Bain Capital, Blackstone, and Temasek Holdings. India's booming snacks market is expected to double by 2032, and these investors want a bite of it. Haldirams is an attractive bet—it is an established market leader, profitable, and a potential IPO candidate, Sneha adds.

🎭 It's a tough life when your entire professional life is spent on the road. Poets, musicians, theatre actors—all have to go from city to city, venue to venue, and give their best. The Mint Lounge team spoke to four artists on how life is on the road, their experiences, and the learnings from leading such a life. A relaxing weekend read, if you wish to have one.

That's all from me this week. If you have any feedback, please write to shashwat.mohanty@htdigital.in.

Best,

Shashwat Mohanty

Assistant Editor