CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Kamala breaches a barrier that kept... I’ll be back: Trump Offence registered against Tandav's... Kohli will be among "equals" in...

Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire, destroying ever ything in its path,” Biden said. “Ever y disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war. And we must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”

The inauguration was held under the unprecedented security umbrella of more than 25,000 National Guards, who have transformed the capital into a garrison city, mainly because of the threat of more violent protests by the supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, who became the first president to skip his successor's inauguration since Andrew Johnson in 1869.

Kamala Harris has shattered the barrier that has kept women from the highest rungs of power in the US for more than 200 years. In her first tweet as Vice President from her official Twitter handle, she said: "Ready to serve."

Harris is the daughter of an Indian mother and African-American father from Jamaica.

She was born in Oakland, California, in 1964, to parents who raised her in a bassinet of civil rights activism. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris from Chennai, was a breast cancer researcher who died of cancer in 2009. Harris' father, Donald, is a Jamaican American professor of economics. ‘‘Have a good life,’’ he told a crowd of a few hundred supporters at Joint Base Andrews, af ter listing his ‘achievements’ in a speech which began af ter a 21-gun salute. In the front row, Ivanka Trump sobbed, while behind them the maskless crowd chanted ‘thank you Trump,’ before the first family climbed the stairs to Air Force One for the final time. In his last hours, Trump granted clemency to more than 140 people, including his former adviser Steve Bannon, who is facing fraud charges.

Trump, who has not even once referred to his successor Joe Biden by name, despite belatedly accepting his accession, however, did not abandon one tradition. He has lef t Biden a note containing good wishes, the BBC reported, citing a White House spokesman. The contents were not known.

Trump, known for his unpredictable leadership style, divisive rhetoric targeting both allies and opponents, and the only US president to be impeached twice, has lef t a tainted legacy never seen before in American political histor y.

It is no less his legacy that more than 25,000 troops were guarding the Capitol Hill in Washington DC for the oath taking ceremony of Biden, which is in many ways symptomatic of the decline of the American empire. It needs to be noted that till four years ago, the US took pride in its democracy and despite assaults like 9/11, it did not feel threatened.

"It was an honour of a lifetime," Trump said before departing from the White House. He said he just wanted to walk over and say "goodbye" and it will "not hopefully be a long goodbye". The words could indeed prove prophetic: there is already speculation that he might soon announce his 2024 re-election bid.

‘‘We love you,’’ the supporters yelled as Trump took the stage as his children watched on proudly. ‘‘We accomplished a lot,’’ Trump said. ‘‘We worked hard. We lef t it all - as the athletes would say - we lef t it in the field.’’

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted transit pre-arrest bail to Zafar, Purohit, Mehra and Solanki, in connection with a case registered against them in Lucknow, for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through the web series.

Justice PD Naik granted them relief for four weeks so that they could approach the concerned court in Lucknow, where the complaint has been filed against them.

Appearing for the four, senior advocate Aabad Ponda and advocate Aniket Nikam told the court that since the quartet required time to approach the concerned court, they be granted interim protection from arrest.

Their application filed on Wednesday said that they had been wrongly implicated in the case and were innocent.

On Wednesday, a UP police team arrived in the city. Immediately on arrival, they went to the Mumbai Police headquarters in Crawford Market to seek assistance.

The UP police team is likely to record the statements of the makers of the Amazon Prime web series, its cast and crew, in connection with the allegations in the FIR where the four are booked under provisions of the IPC pertaining to promoting enmity between different groups (153A), injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult religion (295) and public mischief with intent to cause fear or alarm (501(1)(B)) and under the Information Technology Act. Already, three FIRs in Greater Noida, Lucknow and Shahjahanpur, all in Uttar Pradesh, have been registered against the web series starring actors Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayub. In Mumbai, the complaint in the case, Ram Kadam said, “The state government took four days to register an FIR. It should have been done earlier. Mere apology or editing objectionable scenes from the series will not be enough. We want culprits to be put behind bars, until then we will continue our fight.”

On Tuesday, series director Zafar announced they were dropping the controversial scenes. His statement read: “We have utmost respect for the sentiments of the people of our countr y. We did not intend to hurt or offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead.

“The cast & crew of Tandav have made the decision to implement the changes to the web series to address the concerns raised towards the same. We thank the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for the guidance & support in the matter. We once again apologise if the series has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments (sic).” "I don't want to think about all these things. This is a victor y that we all need to enjoy and I will think about England series once I am back in India," Rahane dodged the question.

But in his heart, the Mumbaikar couldn't have possibly forgotten that he, as a sitting vice-captain, was dropped from the Indian playing XI during the 2018 South Africa series.

While one can give a sound explanation for that decision but the fact that a vice-captain was dropped cannot be seen in isolation. Now, Rahane, India's third highest run-scorer in the series with 268 runs af ter Rishabh Pant (274) and Cheteshwar Pujara (271) -- has cemented his own place in the annals of Indian cricket histor y. And however reticent or inexpressive he might be, his voice will now be heard if he wants it to be heard. That has changed certainly. "His hundred put us back on track," Shastri was the first to acknowledge his impact.

Take Ravichandran Ashwin; when find of the series Siraj (13 wickets) was racially abused, the public stance that Ashwin took and the statement he made was no less than Anil Kumble's statesmanship during the ' Monkeygate' series.

"When Siraj told us, we seniors, Rohit, Jinks and myself decided that we need to report the matter to the match referee," Ashwin had said in Sydney af ter the incident.

He spoke about how three seniors came together to rally around Siraj and comfort him when he faced abuse.

Kohli knows that Ashwin is one of the most astute voices and af ter the fight in Sydney, he also will be heard more in that dressing room.

And then there is Pujara (271), who played 928 balls and the Brisbane victory belongs to the man from Rajkot as much as it belongs to Pant.

Pujara took those blows to show that resistance at times could also mean intent and like Shastri said, he is a "Warrior" who needs to be valued.

Rohit looked good in three of the four innings and he had that calming influence on India's newest batting sensation Shubman Gill (259 runs) during those opening partnerships.

Rohit loves white ball cricket but he values the white India shirt for which he was ready to spend 14 days in hard quarantine in Sydney. All of it just to play two Test matches.

He has taken those five catches at the slips and certainly, as a part of the leadership group, he had a role in Navdeep Saini's pace being preferred over T Natarajan's swing at Sydney.

When the next team meeting is held, these seniors will have their say and the skipper will have to seriously factor in their inputs, changing the dynamics to some extent.

There is a famous saying by American gossip columnist Walter Winschel that aptly describes the new Indian dressing room. "Never Above You, Never Below You, Always Beside You".