In a recent sing-off in the fictional language minions speak, one participant opted for “Bohemian Rhapsody” — the most streamed song of the 20th century. Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara to Parsi Indian parents, spent years writing the 1975 hit song. The rule-breaking, 6-minute rock opera features multiple genres, and words like Bismillah and Beelzebub. To this day, some speculate it’s about his coming out.

Bhupen Khakhar, the father of Indian pop art, was one of India’s first openly queer artists — and he came out with a painting.

He inspired generations of artists and writers, most famously Salman Rushdie, who wrote in Khakhar as the “accountant” in his 1995 novel ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh.’ In return, Khakhar painted Rushdie in a work called ‘The Moor.’ India awarded Khakhar the Padma Shri, one of its highest civilian awards, in 1984. He died of cancer in Vadodara on August 8, 2003; he was 69.

Happy birthday to R.D. Burman, the composer who changed music forever 🎶 “Sweetheart, tara, tara, tara…” is how he opens “Duniya Mein Logon Ko” (1972) in a self-described “gurgling voice.” Over 33 years, he made some of India’s biggest hits with ingenuity and chutzpah. Timbaland sampled him. Apple used his music in its ads. “He was a genius,” Bappa Lahiri told The Juggernaut. “He knew classical and he knew Western music.”

Two more artefacts — a bronze and wooden statue — are finally returning home to Nepal. One is the “Gilt Bronze Padmapani,” a 13th-century 18-inch-tall statue. Padmapani is a bodhisattva who postpones his enlightenment to help all beings achieve it. The figure “was being actively worshipped when it was photographed in 1971" in the Tham-Bahil Monastery in Kathmandu,” the DA’s Office said. Shortly after, it was stolen. In 2012, NYC gallerist Nancy Wiener sold it to Christie’s with false provenance. A collector purchased it for $2.49 million, before surrendering it in 2025. The second artifact is a 33-inch-tall 16th-century wooden statue of Nrtyadevi, a goddess of dance who “gestures with her lower hand, evoking her boon-granting power,” the Nepali Museum writes. The statue was photographed during a 1969 festival at a monastery in Patan. A local stole it, later carrying it to New York in the 1980s. A private collector, likely Jack and Muriel Zimmerman, bought and donated it to the Met in 2016. Nrtyadevi remained in the Met’s collection until the DA’s Office seized it in 2026. The U.S. returned the statues at a ceremony with Dadhiram Bhandari, Consul General of Nepal in New York, on June 23. “The return of our antiquities, Padmapani and Nrityadevi, to Nepal is a testament to the excellent cooperation between Nepal and the United States in protecting cultural heritage,” Bhandari said. “In the past two years we have successfully repatriated more than 20 antiquities to the people of Nepal, all of which have come from well-known trafficking networks that we continue to dismantle,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said. These networks include Subhash Kapoor’s The Antiquities Trafficking Unit has recovered over 6,350 artifacts valued at over $490 million, returning about 6,000 so far to 38 countries.

He went to Lohagad Fort with his fiancée three times. The last time, on June 18, he was pushed into a gorge and didn’t survive.

“We never imagined something like this could happen,” Vishal, Ketan’s father, told Indian Express. “We had known Siya’s family for nearly 35 to 40 years and had complete faith in them. Losing a 26-year-old son in such circumstances is devastating.” “We want strict action against all those responsible,” Rakhi, Ketan’s mother, said.