Closed for business

Traders observing a Bharat Bandh, ostensibly as a form of protest against Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector, managed to hog a fair amount of space on Twitter for a while. Rahul Srivastava tweeted: 'I guess only children look forward to Bharat Bandh, so they can play cricket on the streets.u00a0

Dear politicians, get the sarcasm.' Akhila Shankar added: 'Bharat Bandh has never solved anything. Never has. Never will.' Some thought it sent out a powerful message though. Like Bhaskar Chatterjee, who commented: 'Usually, traders and businessmen are the first to oppose a bandh. Today's Bharat Bandh by traders is history. Congress has no place to hide.'

Considering we are a cinema-obsessed country, Vidya Balan's The Dirty Picture was destined to become a talking point. While a majority of tweets related to the film praised the actress's performance, some were simply amusing. Take, for instance, this from someone using the handle Eccentricandhow: 'Pakistan's Censor Board has decided to ban The Dirty Picture because it challenges their 'fundamental' values.' Or this, from Faking News: 'Pakistan has banned The Dirty Picture. Is that how they celebrate World AIDS Day?' And, finally, from Ramesh Srivats: 'Must see The Dirty Picture. Silk Smitha. Nylex Nalini. Polyester Padmini. They are the ones who formed the er... fabric of our society.'

'To all those living positively with HIV, may you have a full life and live it fully!' Messages like these flooded timelines on World AIDS Day. Also, tweets like this from Timothy Marbun: 'Magic Johnson. Remember him? 20 years fighting HIV.' And from Raul Romeva: 'The enemy is HIV, not HIV carriers. Let's not forget this.'

From filmmaker Farhan Akhtar: 'They've gone and done it again! Digging up all roads in Bandra! What are they looking for... Maybe we can help?'