🌍 Jaishankar's UN ask, explained.

🎵 This one is for the girls who need a confidence boost: play it

Good morning.

In 1994, a couple looked at 2.5 acres of pure cactus in Udaipur and thought, this could be home. Today, that land grows 400 kg of chikoos a year.

That, India's push for the Global South at the UN, and a Union Territory that exists in four different places at once. Shall we?

In 1994, Major Durga Das and his wife Jyoti Jasol bought 2.5 acres of barren land near Udaipur on a whim. "All we saw was cactus," Jyoti recalls. "The land did not support the growth of anything else."

They brought in soil from Pichola Lake and slowly built Devra, a heritage homestay made of Rajasthani stone. Major left the Army after 13 years to build it.

Today the land grows wheat, guavas, tamarind and 400 kg of chikoos every year, with every meal cooked over a traditional chulha.

What happened?
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressed a meeting of Global South countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, calling for stronger cooperation on trade, climate, and rising conflicts. See the official X post →

What did he ask for?
A long list of pressure points: fragile supply chains, growing debt, weak development finance, manipulated energy prices. He called for food security, fair trade practices, safer shipping lanes, and a say for Global South countries in how AI gets governed.

Why it matters:
India wants to be the country that speaks for the countries nobody else speaks for. Whether that becomes real influence depends on what happens next at the UN this week. Read the full breakdown →

Hint: This historic town is famous for its cenotaphs and a palace that seems frozen in time.

Puducherry has one of the most unusual maps in India. What looks like one small coastal Union Territory is actually four separate pieces, scattered across the map, each with its own personality. Here is what makes it unique:

🗺️ One territory, four separate pieces
Puducherry is not one continuous region. It is four disconnected parts: Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam, a legacy of its French colonial past. Puducherry and Karaikal sit along the Tamil Nadu coast, Mahe is surrounded by Kerala, and Yanam sits inside Andhra Pradesh.

🇫🇷 A French past with a Tamil soul
The French Quarter carries colonial-era buildings, colourful facades, and quiet lanes. The Tamil Quarter carries traditional homes, local food, and everyday South Indian life. The Union Territory itself describes this as a Franco-Tamil identity, and it shows in every street you walk down.

🚢 A 2,000-year-old trade connection to Rome
Long before any of this, the ancient port of Arikamedu connected this coast to Roman traders. Archaeologists have found Roman pottery, beads, and other evidence here, proof that this stretch of coastline was part of a global trade network almost two millennia ago.

🧘 A coastal town that became a place to slow down
Beyond the beaches and cafés, Puducherry is known worldwide for the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and nearby Auroville, where people come for spirituality, architecture, sustainability, and a different pace of life altogether.

The takeaway: Puducherry's charm comes from how many worlds exist inside one small place. French-era streets, Tamil traditions, ancient trade routes, and a slow coastal life, all sitting side by side. Watch the video here →

Your brain has been lying to you about focus. This one fixes that.

🏢 Business: A boardroom clash at Tata Sons has spilled into public view, with N. Chandrasekaran securing a fresh five-year term as chairman despite opposition from Tata Trusts, which controls 66% of the holding company.

🏑 Sports: India's men's hockey team beat Sri Lanka 16-1 at the Asian Games, continuing a dominant campaign in Aichi-Nagoya.

🌧️ Northeast: IMD has issued heavy rain warnings for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Sikkim, with thunderstorms expected through September 23-25.

💳 Finance: NPCI has clarified that GST on the new UPI Merchant Discount Rate will not burden small merchants, with transactions up to ₹2,000 remaining completely free.

📈 Markets: India's IPO pipeline is set to cross ₹4.27 lakh crore, with Jio Platforms, PhonePe, and OYO's parent Oravel Stays among the companies preparing to list.

🎓 Education: CGC University Mohali hosted its first Industry-Integrated Board Dialogue 2026, bringing together leadership from over 50 organisations to discuss the future of work.