Firstpost Editor's Picks: Pulwama aftermath, Anjum Moudgil prepares for glory, Gully Boy; today's must-read stories

After Pulwama terror attack, WhatsApp groups are fuelling hypernationalism, hatred and warmongering An investigation reveals that political WhatsApp groups, run by sympathisers and workers of political parties, saw a flood of disinformation within hours of the attack. From systematic warmongering through similar messages in multiple groups calling for nuclear strikes to circulating fake videos of Congress workers chanting ‘Pakistan zindabad’, WhatsApp groups are abuzz with hypernationalistic text, videos, photos and memes. All this content largely revolves around similar themes: while many blamed “Pakistan-sympathisers” in India, others invoked the “tukde tukde gang” and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students. Talk of avenging Pulwama attack hot air: Here's how to deal with Jaish-e-Mohammad, other terrorist groups So, how do you deal with the pestilence called Saeed Hafiz, Azhar Masood and others of that ilk and their scrofulous followers bent on attempting —   albeit materially and infrastructure-wise supported and encouraged by their minders in the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) —  the impossible? Loosening India’s hold on Jammu And Kashmir is no easy thing to try and do for Pakistan. But that’s not what ISI hopes to accomplish. It is intent and itching to draw the Indian military and the State into a brawl with the natives, not get New Delhi so riled up that it overcomes its self-imposed inhibitions. **Gully Boy and the female gaze: Zoya Akhtar leads the way with unapologetic depiction of women's sexual desire** Zoya Akhtar’s handling of her women characters’ desires and hopes takes forward a significant shift in presenting a woman’s sexuality in Hindi cinema that has been happening for some time. True, in the 80s, when the parallel cinema movement emerged and peaked, a few films touched upon it. But mainstream cinema has always underplayed the woman’s desire. A key factor in this is selling tickets. And a determining undercurrent to this has been a near hegemony of men as producers, writers and directors. They have called the shots for decades. **ISSF New Delhi Shooting World Cup 2019: Painter, reader, thinker, shooter — Anjum Moudgil ready for brush with glory** That one of the country’s premier rifle shooter has interests in canvas and colours is known already, but the continuous conflicts that the artist in her endures are worth brooding over. How does she deal with the disquiet, how seamless is slipping in and out of the canvas of her thoughts and colours, just how does she turn a deaf ear to the voices within? “That’s what the sport teaches you, isn’t it?” Anjum Moudgil says. “The thoughts and conflicts are there for sure. I observe a lot, and consequently, tend to think a lot too. But as a professional, I know when to give in to them and when to avoid. When I take aim, I see nothing but the target.” Satyajit Sarna’s debut poetry collection, The Profane, is a meditation on death, dissent and our time on earth The Profane is Delhi-based Satyajit Sarna’s first collection of poetry and has “poems of heartbreak and disillusion, of loneliness and mortality, but also of passion for life on earth, in all its mud and glory”. Sarna is also the author of the novel The Angel’s Share. The poems in this volume deal with a diverse range of subjects that were written mostly over a period of five years “…but some go back as far as ten years.”