Days after Myanmar’s military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, an Australian economist working with her received an anonymous email telling him the police were watching his room and that he should flee.

Sean Turnell, an economics professor at Macquarie University, was detained soon after, as the military launched a sweeping and bloody crackdown on democracy protests and those who had worked with Suu Kyi’s government.

Accused of being a spy and convicted by a junta-run court in a case slammed by rights groups, Turnell served 650 days in prison in Myanmar before being pardoned and released last year.

In an interview with AFP marking the publication of his new book about the ordeal, he recounted feeling he might not make it out alive, being a co-defendant with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and the most memorable birthday cake ever.

The warning email he received from “A Secret Friend” came too late and he was arrested at his hotel shortly afterwards — while giving an interview to the BBC.

Held first in a police station in Yangon, he could still hear the banging of pots and pans that marked the early protests against the coup, he wrote in “An Unlikely Prisoner.”

Of the weeks-long investigation into him by the police and military: “I can only use that overused label of Kafkaesque,” he told AFP in Sydney.

Once, he was presented with a document marked “confidential” and asked how it had come into his possession.

It was a document he had written as part of his work for the government, he explained.

“I said, ‘Look, I had it because it was mine. I wrote it’. And they said, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t have had it’.

“And so at that moment, you know, I realised not for the first, not for the last time that I was way beyond the looking glass.”

Away from the interrogations, life in prison was hard and lonely, Turnell told AFP, adding he received “minimal” health attention.

During the steamy monsoon season, he described being “damp and hot and, all at the same time, your food goes mouldy, insects and rats and other rodents come.”

“The health risk factors were to the max,” he said. “I was worried about that. I thought I just might die there.”

Amid the darkness, there were lighter moments too.

On his 58th birthday, his fellow inmates did the impossible and made him a birthday cake in a makeshift oven.

They “somehow managed to get some flour and water and various other things, which you weren’t even sure what they were, some raisins and other things, and made this cake,” he said.

“It was the most wonderful cake imaginable.”

– On trial with Suu Kyi –

Turnell was later moved to a prison in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, where Suu Kyi was his co-defendant in his trial for allegedly breaching the country’s official secrets act.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her opposition to a previous junta, was detained on the morning of the coup and hit with a raft of other charges.

She has been largely hidden from view since the coup, appearing only in grainy state media photos, with Turnell one of the handful of people to interact with her.

“She was incredibly strong throughout” their trial, he said.

“She was, I think more concerned to keep the spirits up of the people, like me, charged alongside her, than she was about her own situation.”

The compound she was being kept in was “marginally” better than the cell of an average political prisoner, he said, but added he still worried about the health of the 78-year-old.

During the days they were together, they talked about literature, movies and what little they could glean about world affairs, he said.

They were each jailed for three years on official secrets charges and Turnell was preparing for another Christmas away from his family.

Then a pardon came “out of the blue,” and he was released alongside three other high-profile foreign prisoners — former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, Japanese journalist Toru Kubota and Myanmar-US citizen Kyaw Htay Oo.

Back in Australia, he spoke to the media about the conditions he was kept in and about the junta’s ongoing bloody crackdown.

He said he later learned this had “upset” the junta, which rescinded his pardon, making him technically a wanted man in Myanmar again, which was a “real shock.”

“I hasten to add it hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm nor sense of duty about speaking out on Myanmar,” he said.

After unveiling two songs Hua Mein and Satranga, the makers of Animal have released a new song titled Papa Meri Jaan.

Check out the song here: 

Papa Meri Jaan is sung by Sonu Nigam, composed by Harshavardhan Rameshwar, and has lyrics written by Raj Shekhar.

This heartfelt song gives us a glimpse into the profound bond between a father and son, portrayed by Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. It explores their relationship from the son’s childhood, highlighting Anil Kapoor’s character as an absent father.

The song portrays Ranbir’s character’s admiration for Anil since childhood and how their dynamic has evolved over time. The music video also offers a glimpse at Gitanjali, played by Rashmika Mandanna, who loves and encourages Ranbir’s character.

The final scene, which shows a battered and injured Ranbir taking charge of the plane’s controls with a look of despair, adds an interesting layer to the story

Animal is directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol and Triptii Dimri in pivotal roles. The film is set to be released on December 1, 2023.

See Also: Ranbir Kapoor and Sandeep Reddy Vanga share a moment in this BTS pic from Animal 

The Indian Institutes of Management have released the mock test for Common  Admission Test on  the official website of the CAT 2023. The mock tests have been released to guide the students about the computer based exam, features, procedures and the steps to access the test. 

The computer-based Common Admission Test 2023 will be held on November 26, 2023 in three sessions. The test has three Sections, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data
Interpretation and Logical Reasoning and Quantitative Ability.

Candidates can check the Mock test link is on the official website of CAT 2023. They will be allowed to move to the next section only after completing 40 minutes.

Steps to navigate to CAT 2023 Mock test link 

Step 1- Click on Mock Test Link available on CAT 2023 official website Step 2- Enter your registration number and password and click on sign in Step 3- Post login, click F11 button read through the ‘General Instructions for Candidate’Step 4- Click on NEXT to move to the next page Step 5- Read through ‘Other Important Instructions for Candidate’Step 6- Click on the disclaimer check box on ‘Other Important Instructions for Candidate’ Step 7-  Click on ‘I am ready to begin’ to begin your Mock testStep 8- Candidates will see the first question of first section and the CAT Mock test begins.