Inside a pressure cooker
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Hello DoorDesi,
God, what a week this has been. If you guys take me seriously at all, let me tell you - Do not plan an Indian wedding with your parents. And if you do, just accept that you and your parents are not going to like each other very much for the timebeing.
Much like my home, many aspects of India seemed to be like a pressure cooker building up with dangerous pressure this week. Airports turned into bus stops. The declining Rupee started a meme fest nobody was ready for. And like a toxic partner, the government tried to install an app on new phones sold in India with a ‘till death do us part’ uninstall feature.
So while I figure out why the decorator’s quote is higher than my three-year Bachelor’s degree tuition fee, you get yourself a cup of chai and enjoy the ride.
Have a great week ahead, folks!
Just the gist
IndiGo has spent the past week in full meltdown mode, cancelling and delaying flights like it is a competitive sport. What began on December 2 as “operational issues” and “bad weather” quickly spiralled into mass chaos with over 150 cancellations on December 3, more than 550 on December 4, and another 400 on December 5. By now, nearly every major airport has hosted its own Indigo-induced stampede. All because while their competitors hired more pilots in the last six months since the new rule about rest periods for pilots came out, Indigo decided to wing it. Well, winging it they are.
India’s aviation regulator, DGCA, has had enough of IndiGo’s week of chaos. After days of mass cancellations and stranded passengers, the DGCA has issued show-cause notices to CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras, giving them 24 hours to explain why action should not be taken. The regulator says IndiGo’s meltdown shows major lapses in planning, oversight and compliance, especially under new crew rest rules that the airline wildly underestimated.
➡️ For those planning trips to and from India, you probably already know this but maybe look into Indigo alternatives like AirIndia Express, Akasa, Vistara. Sure, they do not have nearly as many flights as Indigo but for once that might be a good thing.
🔗Send your dolla dolla bills, y’all!
Everyone in-country is panicking about the rupee crossing 90 per dollar, but the truth is this slide has been happening for years. It is not because India suddenly started importing too much or exporting too little. The real issue is money leaving the country. Foreign investors have pulled out billions from Indian markets this year, and global interest rates have made foreign companies less eager to invest in India.
Earlier, the RBI kept jumping in to stop the fall. This year, it is stepping back and letting the rupee adjust naturally.
➡️ For DoorDesis, this is a golden opportunity to transfer their remittances, investments, and other 💵 at rates that have never been more favourable.
The government tried to make Sanchar Saathi a mandatory pre-installed app on every new smartphone and all hell broke lose. After a wave of backlash from privacy advocates, legal experts, industry giants and basically anyone with a phone, the mandate has been withdrawn. Officially, the Centre says it is because the app is “increasingly popular”. Unofficially, sources say Apple, Samsung, legal advisers and the Constitution all said “absolutely the eff not”.
The app helps users check SIMs linked to their IDs, report fraud and track lost phones — useful, yes, but forcing it on citizens (and making it impossible to delete) was a step too far.
➡️ The good news is you can still download it if you want. The better news is you do not have to.
🔗H1-B visas and the politics of it
The Trump administration has rolled out a new layer of scrutiny for H-1B visa applicants, and this time the focus is not degrees or job offers but “censorship”. A leaked State Department memo instructs consular officers to comb through resumes and LinkedIn profiles to check if applicants or their family members have worked in areas like content moderation, fact-checking, online safety or anything that could be interpreted as restricting free speech in the United States. The absolute effing irony!
➡️ If they find evidence, applicants can be ruled ineligible. Tech workers are especially in the spotlight, and the policy applies to both new and repeat applicants.
Desi at heart
🔗The mountains are calling - for help
In Himachal’s Kinnaur, Suman Singh proudly calls himself “kachrawala” as he hikes the mountains collecting the trash tourists leave behind. He is part of Healing Himalayas Foundation, a volunteer-driven effort that has cleared more than 2,000 tonnes of waste from the region and set up Material Recovery Facilities to manage it properly. With exploding tourist numbers and 75 percent of mountain plastic being non-recyclable, the work is huge and underfunded. Volunteers say the problem is not just litter, but mindset. The Foundation now needs support to keep waste out of riverbeds and villages.
➡️ They are looking for donations and this holiday season what better way to give back than to the mountains that sustain us in every way possible.
Thank you for reading this far!
With love on behalf of two women who cringe at the mention of chai tea latte,
Sudeshna
Co-Founder, DoorDesi 💃
Housekeeping
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