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A Window to India

"Gravitas Live" with Palki Sharma Upadhyay. YouTube WION channel

By David Yamaguchi The North American Post

Daily world headlines, as well as Shinji Maeda’s flight itinerary above, make the present a good time for all of us to learn more about India, a country that Nikkei do not know well, but share deep connections with. One non-intimidating way to do so is to watch part of the “Gravitas Live” broadcast daily, on the WION YouTube channel. Straight from New Delhi, the free one-hour news summary provides a native-English perspective on global affairs from outside of the United States and United Kingdom.

WION is an acronym for “World is One News,” which is followed by 2.4 million subscribers. Its view is a useful one, as whip-smart anchor Palki Sharma Upadhyay spares no countries nor world leaders from her analyses. For example, in a ten-minute “Gravitas Plus” on May 8, she relates how India was faring the pandemic well until spring super-spreader events—rallies leading to April 6 state elections, followed by a major pilgrimage to the city of Haridwar—caused new infection rates to spiral.

Upadhyay’s stories are also worth watching as inspiring examples of effective communication and of one person making a difference. She shows how to make points quickly and to speak with “gravitas.”