Unexpected workplace empathy

In a refreshing twist on corporate hiring that instantly captured the internet’s heart, a group of IITian startup founders shared an unusual recruitment incident. During the interview, an applicant requested a modest monthly salary of ₹35,000. The founders countered by offering a higher salary of ₹50,000 per month instead.

Quality of life over fat pay cheque?

Meanwhile, a Hyderabad-based professional, Madhan Mohan, sparked a major viral debate on X after revealing why he walked away from a lucrative ₹38 LPA job offer in Bengaluru to accept a lower-paying ₹30 LPA role back home. For him, lower living expenses, proximity to family, lesser daily stress, and shorter commute times held far greater value than chasing a high-pressure corporate compensation package.

IITian tech leader on rise of AI

As professionals navigate these personal choices, tech leaders are looking at the bigger picture. Arvind Jain, an IITian and the founder of a $7.2 billion company, Glean, weighed in on the tech world’s biggest anxiety - AI taking jobs from humans. He confidently stated that AI will never completely replace a single employee.

But AI isn’t the only thing causing anxiety in the tech world; for some, the biggest challenge isn’t adapting to new technology, but adapting back to their own homeland.

‘Unpleasant homecoming’

Navigating the Indian ecosystem after being away comes with its own set of cultural shocks. One founder, Karan Punjabi, shared a deeply polarising post after living in Europe for five years, stating that returning to India felt “suffocating” and explaining why moving back home can be an incredibly difficult emotional transition.

While some find the transition back to Indian cities overwhelming, others are figuring out how to budget strategically to make metro living work for them.

Math of living in a metro city

A Microsoft techie couple, Chhavi Maheshwari and Ripesh Yadav, living in Noida, opened up to my colleague, Mahipal Singh Chouhan, about their monthly expenses of ₹1.6 lakh. Despite rising city living costs, they concluded that Noida still offers a well-balanced, comfortable lifestyle compared to other metros.

Some people are happy budgeting for a comfortable life in Delhi-NCR, but others are realising that moving overseas isn’t the automatic fix it’s hyped up to be.

Most-read this week

The desire to escape corporate chaos often drives techies abroad, but the grassroots reality is rarely perfect. A Bengaluru-born techie, Sabah Husen Qazi, outlined the hidden financial and emotional struggles of chasing the NRI dream in a conversation with me.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

A Norwegian journalist found herself at the centre of a massive online conversation in India this week, after she called out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the end of a press appearance in Oslo. After PM Modi and his Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Støre concluded their media statements, reporter Helle Lyng Svendsen made an unsuccessful attempt to ask a question to PM Modi. “Why don’t you take some questions from the world’s freest press?” she asked just as the two leaders were walking out of the room.

Later, at a foreign ministry press conference, Svendsen asked why India should be trusted, given its alleged human rights violations. Indian diplomat Sibi George gave her a sharp response, rejecting the allegations.

The videos of both incidents went viral in no time, triggering strong reactions from Indian users.

#Melodi is back

The internet’s mood shifted instantly as PM Modi flew from Oslo to Rome, where he was hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The hashtag #Melodi has trended every time the two leaders meet. But this time, PM Modi took it a notch further after he gifted her a pack of the popular Melody toffee. The ‘Melodi-Melody’ wordplay was impossible to miss. Meloni’s video of PM Modi holding up the packet of Melody opened a floodgate of reactions on social media, becoming the viral moment of the week.

Cockroach Janta Party

Now here’s something no one saw coming: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP). The hard-to-ignore satirical political outfit overtook the Bharatiya Janata Party on Instagram in terms of follower count. As people scrambled to figure out what this outfit was all about, Cockroach Janta Party dominated trends on X and Google Search. Cockroach Janta Party was set up by Boston University graduate Abhijeet Dipke, who has previously worked with the Aam Aadmi Party social media team.

Meta layoffs

Job anxiety isn’t going away. This week, it has been Meta. In the coming days, we will see more #OpenToWork posts from Meta employees who have been laid off, as Mark Zuckerberg cuts around 8,000 jobs globally.

Most-read this week

Our most-read story in the last week is of a Bengaluru-based woman who went to the US on a work trip. Sakshi’s comparison of the Indian and American work culture sparked mild backlash from other social media users. Sakshi said that she found her US office floor empty at 4:30 pm. Following the negative reactions she received, the woman deleted the video from Instagram. Read the full story here.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

Indian internet started the week reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for austerity measures as soaring global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves. PM Modi on Sunday appealed to Indians to avoid unnecessary foreign travel, work from home (WFH), use public transport, reduce gold purchases and the use of cooking oil. While the opposition criticised PM Modi’s appeal, a large section of working professionals welcomed the idea of WFH, saying they could save on fuel costs and time spent stuck in traffic during office commute.

Sunday was a busy day on the internet, indeed. But the Indian Prime Minister’s austerity appeal wasn’t the only big talking point. It was also Mother’s Day. My feed was full of posts of people honouring and celebrating moms. As a Mother’s Day treat, Rajat Grover, a Delhi-based entrepreneur, offered employees a ₹10,000 reimbursement and three additional days of leave to take their parents on a three-day vacation.

From ₹1 crore London job to cleaning flats in Australia

The most-read story on Hindustantimes.com in the last week is of an Indian woman who went from earning a comfortable Rs 1 crore at a leadership role in London to cleaning flats in Melbourne. In 2023, Shweta Desai moved from London to Melbourne with her husband and two children. Finding it tough to get a suitable job in Australia in her field, the 37-year-old decided to accept a vastly different job that came her way - cleaning Airbnb apartments. “It’s a functional job. It gave me a small part of myself back, so I do it,” she told my colleague Sanya Jain.

Read more about Shweta Desai’s journey here.

Bengaluru couple’s spending habits spark debate

If you spend a considerable amount of time on Instagram, chances are that you have seen reels of people in Indian cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai breaking down their monthly expenses. Such videos strike a chord with millennials and Gen Z juggling work and home in urban India. As someone living in Bengaluru, I found myself pausing to read one such story. A Bengaluru couple, both of them product managers, shared a detailed breakdown of their monthly expenses in a viral video on Instagram. While there is no right answer to how much one should spend, the numbers shared by the couple are sure to give food for thought.

NEET-UG 2026 cancellation leaves aspirants frustrated

On Tuesday, NEET was a trending keyword on the internet after the National Testing Agency (NTA) cancelled the NEET-UG 2026 exam following allegations of paper leak and irregularities. X and Reddit were flooded with reactions from frustrated NEET aspirants who said all their hard work had been wasted.

Delayed CBSE Class 12 results trigger memes

Meanwhile, CBSE Class 12 students and their parents had some relief on Wednesday after the board exam results were finally declared. However, the days leading up to the announcement of the results were not without their share of memes and jokes online about the delay. “CBSE result nahi, heart attack dena chahta hai (CBSE wants to give heart attack and not the result),” someone wrote on Instagram.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

Naturally, for the millions of Indians moving abroad, this obsession doesn’t just evaporate at customs. Every year, the demand for desi mangoes in the US reaches a fever pitch - and this year is no different. We’re talking about people tracking shipping containers like they’re expecting a royal visit, just for a taste of home.

Recognising that this “mango mania” is better shared than gatekept, one man in San Francisco decided to turn the frantic hunt into a full-scale community gathering. Instead of just hoarding his haul, he announced a mango party.

Aam-azing insaans

But while we’re busy obsessing over fruit, I’ve been talking to some aam-azing insaans (extraordinary ordinary people) who are winning at life.

For instance, a young Kanpur woman I recently reached out to. Shreya Tiwari was working at TCS with a modest ₹4LPA salary but decided the corporate ladder felt more like a hamster wheel. Despite not being able to afford a fancy, high-end education, she struck out on her own and is now making nearly ₹14 LPA on her own terms.

Then there’s the story of a Goan man who is basically the human embodiment of the phrase “Not All Heroes Wear Capes”. Omkar Gaddanakeri stepped in to save a woman from Kerala from a sophisticated scam, ending the interaction with the most legendary line: “Ma’am, aap aaram se enjoy karo” (Ma’am, you just relax and enjoy). When I spoke to him, his humility was refreshing.

And if you need another reason to smile today, look at the Lucknow cab driver whose daughter just joined the CBI. The video of his pride is pure “dil khush” content.

Not every transformation or moment of celebration is about a new job. Sometimes, it’s about realising you’re the “villain” in someone else’s story. An IITian executive recently went viral for a rare moment of corporate vulnerability. Siddharth Maheshwari recalled times when his best employees quit specifically because of him. His takeaway? “Nobody teaches you how to be a manager” and “do better”.

The heavier side of the feed

Two stories that recently caught my colleagues’ eyes remind us how much work still needs to be done regarding human dignity.

One is about a domestic helper who was allegedly forced to work from 5 am to 9:30 pm with severely limited food. She claimed she was even forced to buy her own food.

Meanwhile, a chilling report out of the corporate high-towers alleged that JP Morgan executive Lorna Hajdini sexually abused a junior colleague while the victim pleaded, “Don’t make me do this.”

The ultimate mango flex

To end on a slightly more surreal note: Isha Ambani. While the rest of us are scouring for a mango that isn’t bruised, Isha took things to the Met Gala level (literally) by carrying a mango sculpture as an accessory.

Yes, a Subodh Gupta sculpture. Of a mango. It’s the ultimate full-circle moment: the fruit we crave has become the fashion we admire.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a delivery notification to stalk and a mango shake that isn’t going to blend itself.

Stay sweet (and maybe a little tangy)!

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

My absolute favourite piece of content from all of the beauty influencers was a reel by Aryana Dalal (around 29,000 Instagram followers) who, without any inhibition, asked Rihanna what perfume she was wearing that evening. “This is an honour,” Dalal told her when it was her turn to get a few seconds with the pop icon. Dalal had to repeat the word “honour” thrice as Rihanna could not quite catch what she was saying.

“You’re so stunning and you smell amazing,” Dalal told her. I’ve to admit, it was oddly endearing to see Rihanna giggling, covering her mouth with her hand, when she received the compliment.

“What perfume do you wear? Dalal asked her.

“J’adore,” said Rihanna, referring to Dior’s fragrance, for which she is the face.

“A little mix, a little spritz,” she further revealed. I wasn’t surprised to see the adorable video of the candid starstruck moment racking up over 15 million views. Watch the wholesome video here.

And yes, who else but the Ambani ladies hosting her at Antilia. We saw pictures and videos of Isha Ambani and the Ambani bahus, Shloka Mehta and Radhika Merchant, welcoming Rihanna and even performing an aarti with her.

Influencer of the week: Nejm

One content creator who was in the spotlight with this Rihanna event is Nejm. Deborrah Samantha Johnson, who gave herself the name Nejm (’real’ in Tamil) as a teenager, is a model and rapper from Tamil Nadu.

She has close to 700,000 followers on Instagram and posted three reels with Rihanna from the Fenty event. Nejm managed to give Rihanna a quick Bharatanatyam lesson, with the global icon trying a few mudras from the classical Indian dance form.

Read more about Nejm here.

Sridhar Vembu called ‘delulu’ over his call to NRIs

While Rihanna brought the glitz and glam on Instagram, over on X, Sridhar Vembu had his moment for this week. The Zoho billionaire dominated timelines with his call for NRIs in the US to return to India. In his “open letter to Indians in America”, Vembu urged Indians in the US to contribute to India’s technological growth.

Vembu’s viral post (over 6.8 million views) triggered intense reactions across the spectrum. Former BharatPe boss-turned-influencer Ashneer Grover took a sharp dig at Vembu, calling him “delulu” ( Gen Z slang for delusional). “Record-breaking heat in India is clearly making people dizzy. Just DON’T — be scientific in your approach. Look at numbers — $1 = ₹94. Temperature = 50C,” Grover said.

Prachi Nigam’s quiet comeback

Before we wrap up, here’s a heartwarming story.

Remember Prachi Nigam? The teenager from Uttar Pradesh who faced the internet’s ugly side two years ago just because she had facial hair. Nigam, who topped the UP Board’s Class 10 exam in 2024, was subjected to vicious body-shaming online after her photos went viral. Two years later, she scored an impressive 91.20% in her Class 12 board exams. You can read about Prachi Nigam here.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

For Bansal, it all started when Lenskart's internal dress code guidelines went viral on social media. The company purportedly bars employees from sporting a bindi and tying a kalawa (religious thread) around their wrists, but allows hijaabs.

Following the social media uproar, Lenskart released an updated “style guide” for in-store employees. The retailer shared the fresh dress code in a statement on X:

“These guidelines explicitly and unambiguously welcome every symbol of faith and culture our team members carry—bindi, tilak, sindoor, kalawa, mangalsutra, kada, hijab, turban, and more. Not as exceptions. As who we are.”

Earlier, Bansal issued a clarification, that the viral document is not a reflection of the company’s current guidelines for employees, implying that it is “outdated”. However, social media users did not buy the argument, alleging the controversial document was issued in February 2026.

Now, let's shift focus to Bansal's Shark Tank India fellow judge Namita Thapar. On Monday, the Emcure boss shared a video on Instagram and X, noting that she and her mother have been facing incessant trolling and abuse online for the last three weeks. Thapar was trolled after she shared a video last month on health benefits of namaaz. The video of Thapar hitting back at trolls has over 5.7 million views on X.

Anyway, stepping away from what triggered the Indian Internet, here's something that is likely to hit home for you as well.

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Bengaluru woman's honest confessions on burnout

Our most-read story since we launched this newsletter has been of a young woman from Bengaluru. Over two lakh users on hindustantimes.com read the story of this upcoming content creator who spoke about how work had taken over her life. My colleague Mahipal Singh Chouhan spotted an Instagram Reel by Nidhi VG while scrolling, and felt that her candid account of work-life balance is a topic that would strike a chord with most of us.

In case you have not read the story, click here to see what Nidhi from Bengaluru had to say about work stress and eventually losing her job.

Mahipal also spoke to a young Delhi man who landed a role at Google in Bengaluru—what many would consider a dream job. Harshit Sharma, 24, who calls Bengaluru “high pressure cooker for tech talent”, eventually quit the Google job after he developed a growing sense of disconnect with corporate and tech life.

You can read Harshit Sharma's story here.

₹3.5 LPA to ₹1 crore job at Apple

Another pick for this week is the story of Tanvi Pisal, a woman from Pune who now lives in San Jose, California. The 29-year-old Apple employee spoke to my colleague Sanya Jain about how she went from a ₹3 LPA job in India to her current Rs 1 crore gig at Apple in the US. The UX designer's journey to Bay Area was not without challenges.

Read about Tanvi Pisal's turbulent yet rewarding professional journey here.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!

Welcome to the first edition of the HT Trending newsletter, a crisp roundup of what defines online conversation on any given day. We decode what’s driving chatter on social media, what’s up for debate, and what people are watching and sharing while doomscrolling. If you like what you see, subscribe to get this in your inbox every week.

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Job anxiety is real. And it’s all over the internet.

The myriad layoffs at companies big and small has triggered a flash flood of sorts on social media—the affected are recounting their own story, others are simply sharing their concerns over job security.

The Oracle layoffs earlier this month triggered this outpouring—first on LinkedIn and then on Reddit and Blind, with affected employees saying they received the dreaded email as early as 6:00 am. The company led by billionaire Larry Ellison has cut 30,000 jobs globally, including 12,000 in India. It’s another matter that his net worth stands at $200 billion, and that Paramount, with his backing, is buying Warner Bros.

On Wednesday, Snapchat parent Snap Inc. announced a thousand job cuts citing, you guessed it, artificial intelligence. About 16% of the workforce is being let go. A laid-off employee called out CEO Evan Spiegel after he was spotted attending Coachella with his supermodel wife Miranda Kerr. “I guess he had to blow off some steam before announcing the big news,” the anonymous employee snarked on Blind.

Bank home in India, a viral anonymous post on Blind alleged that Sridhar Vembu’s Zoho Corp. has laid off 300 employees without any warning.

My colleague Sanya Jain reached out to Zoho to verify the claim, in response to which the company said that its three-decade no-layoffs streak remains intact. Md. Sohail, a top HR executive at Zoho, said that the Blind user erroneously conflated the Chennai-based company’s internship programme with full-time employment. Read the full story here.

A few days ago, Gurugram-based entrepreneur Nikhil Rana found himself featured on r/LinkedInLunatics—the sub-reddit that calls out cringeworthy LinkedIn posts. Rana had on the professional networking platform shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp exchange between him and one of his employees. Going by the screenshot, the founder fired the man shortly after he expresed his inability to attend a work event. Rana justified a no-notice period policy as he fired the employee.

Redditors love sharing stories of workplace horrors and toxic bosses. Unsurprisingly, our readers too have devoured many of the relatable stories we curate from these platforms. One such recent story is of an email exchange between a person and their boss who denied sick leave citing a trivial reason.

But there was one thing I loved this week: Videos of HCLTech employees celebrating at the company’s 50th anniversary in Noida. There was an Arijit Singh concert thrown in for good measure. But since we are on the topic of work and the workplace, did you see the video of an HCLTech employee asking CEO C. Vijayakumar, who was dancing on stage, “Sir, appraisal kab hoga?”

Not all of this week’s viral moments were grim.

Saharanpur to Silicon Valley

If you’re someone who spends a considerable amount of time on X, formerly Twitter, you’re likely to have seen the name Harshita Arora on your feed. This 25-year-old from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur is now a general partner at Y Combinator. She started coding at 13, built and sold her first app as a teenager.

Click here to know more about Harshita Arora.

Mangoes from a thoughtful boss

Our most-read story this week is of a Mumbai woman whose thoughtful boss arranged for mangoes to be delivered at her home, days after she casually mentioned missing the king of fruits. Don’t we all want a boss like that? You can check out the heartwarming story here.

That’s all from us this week. See you next time with more of what the internet is talking about. Happy scrolling!