| Greetings from India! You're reading Meanwhile, Back Home, our daily newsletter specially curated for our overseas readers. While you were asleep, it was a whirlwind of a day here in India. We've got the top highlights lined up for you.
Welcome back, readers! Another day, another internet frenzy—this time, AI-generated art is stealing the spotlight. With OpenAI’s latest update, everyone’s transforming images into Studio Ghibli-style masterpieces. While fans are enchanted, not everyone is on board. Hayao Miyazaki, who co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985, has spent decades shaping the world of animation with his richly detailed, human-crafted frames. His films, from Spirited Away to The Boy and the Heron, are known for their painterly quality—each scene meticulously drawn by hand, with minimal digital intervention. Unsurprisingly, Miyazaki has been a vocal critic of AI in art. In a widely shared moment from the 2016 documentary Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki, he dismissed AI-generated animation as an "insult to life itself." For the visionary behind Ghibli’s hand-drawn magic, animation is deeply human, a craft that can’t be replicated by machines.“I feel like we are nearing the end of times,” he said.
 Spotlight In an interview with The Indian Express, Ranjani Srinivasan, a 37-year-old PhD student in urban planning at Columbia University, spoke of their (Ranjani uses they/them pronouns) experience of leaving the US after their visa was revoked. Srinivasan, who had been in the US since 2016, was tracked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before departing for Canada. A day later, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem referred to them as a "terrorist sympathiser" who had “self-deported.” Srinivasan says that while they support the Palestinian right to self-determination, they were not actively involved in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. They described their arrest on April 30, 2024, as a mistake, explaining that they were returning from a department picnic when caught in police action. Their student visa was revoked, and Columbia University disenrolled them, citing undisclosed legal issues. However, Srinivasan says the charges were dismissed and argued that the response was disproportionate. ICE later attempted to detain them, unaware they had already left the country. Srinivasan rejected the term “self-deportation,” saying they simply followed visa rules.
☕ Spill the Expresso A murder mystery with a twist Shonda Rhimes’ The Residence takes a big swing at the murder mystery genre—part Knives Out, part political drama, and just a little bit of slapstick chaos, writes my colleague Rohan Naahar. The show, created by Paul William Davies, follows detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) as she navigates a high-profile murder at the White House during a state dinner. Blending the intrigue of Murder on the Orient Express with sharp humour and modern storytelling, The Residence is an easy binge with a stylish edge. The wicketkeeper At 43, MS Dhoni continues to redefine wicketkeeping with his unique style, proving he is still a true original. Unlike conventional keepers who cushion the ball, Dhoni snatches it with lightning-fast reflexes. His dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav during the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings' and Mumbai Indians was a blur—before the batter could react, the bails were gone. His technique, rooted in instinct and precision, involves minimal hand movement, supreme balance, and a flick of the wrists. As former coach R Sridhar said, Dhoni doesn’t just have safe hands—he has strong, intelligent ones.
🚨 Must Read LSE President speaks LSE President Larry Kramer isn’t mincing words. In a candid chat, he warns that Trump’s visa crackdown on student protesters could deal a major blow to the US universities. On AI? “Think calculators, not chaos”—he says schools should embrace, not fear it. As UK universities face financial struggles, he argues smarter policies—not cutting leadership pay—are the fix. And his boldest take? Traditional lectures might soon be relics of the past.
📰 In Other News Why Myanmar shook A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, toppling buildings in Mandalay and even shaking a skyscraper in Bangkok. As the strongest quake in two years, its shallow depth of just 10 km made it even more destructive. Myanmar sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major seismic zone where tectonic plates constantly shift. When they suddenly unstick, powerful earthquakes occur. That’s all for now. Until next time, Aishwarya Khosla
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