WOMEN'S MARCH | Photo Gallery

Saturday's Women's March saw groundbreaking participation as people from all walks of life thronged the streets across the globe (mainly across America) to promote women's rights, immigration reforms, and health care reforms, besides representing their stand against Islamophobia, rape culture, and LGBT abuse as well as addressing racial inequities, workers' issues and environmental issues.

The rallies were largely seen as protests against Donald Trump, the recently- inaugurated President of the United States, and his various statements which have been deemed as anti- women and racial.

Here are some photos from some of the rallies that constituted the Women's March, featuring some well known faces who took time to actively participate in the marches.

Bollywood actress Radhika Apte was also a participant in Saturday's Women's March.
She shared some photos of the rally on her Instagram profile.

Emily Sears dons a T- shirt reading, "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."

A little girl holds upright a placard reading, "GRRRLS will change the world"

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo participated in the rally in Manhattan,
highlighting some powerful opinions like these

Two women hug each other during Saturday's Women's March while holding a poster
that says, "WE THE PEOPLE ARE GREATER THAN FEAR"

The text on the board reads, "The end of patriarchy is nigh"

Cardboards and placards bearing strong words against patriarchy were a common sight
in Saturday's Women's March

Actor Mark Ruffalo displays a borrowed poster which reads, "99 PROBLEMS AND THIS BITCH IS ONE"
probably referring to the recently inaugurated president, we suppose.

Posters reading "WE THE RESILIENT HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE"
were widely circulated in the marches besides other similar ones

Reports have suggested that over a million people participated in the Women's March from all over the world. This, undoubtedly deserves much appreciation.

That being said, following the successful implementation of the march, and keeping in mind that the issues that the event addressed are ideas that can't be brought about in a transforming manner overnight, the question that arises is this: What next?

Well, we say, it's something that has to be determined by people who so energetically came out in support of this peaceful procession to support the ideas of righteousness and equality.

WATCH | Ellen DeGeneres' Emotional Video Tribute to Barack and Michelle Oabama

Ellen DeGeneres paid a heartwarming tribute to now former President of the United States, Barack Obama in a 5- minute long video she published on YouTube on Obama's last day of holding office.

In the video, Ellen can be seen thanking Mr. Obama for standing up for the LGBT rights when in power, saying, "“I am a happily married woman because of him. And so is my wife!”

During his time in office, Mr. Obama had visited The Ellen Show twice, besides appearing in several live link- ups with the show. 

The video also shows Ellen engaged in various hilarious moments with Michelle Obama including the time when Mrs. Obama went shopping with the talk show host and the latter took a megaphone to ask an entire store if they had a cream for the First Lady's rash.

Earlier, Mr. Obama had called Ellen a "role model" for coming out openly as a lesbian in the late '90's. During the Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony, the former president also said that Ellen "reminds us that we have more in common than we realise”.

He then continued to say, “It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago. Just how important it was, not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us to see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbor, or our colleague, or our sister, challenge our own assumptions. Remind us that we have more in common than we realize. Push our country in the direction of justice. 

“What an incredible burden that was to bear, to risk your career like that.”

Barack Obama ended his term as President of the United States on 20th January, 2017 at 12 PM, Washington D.C time.

RECOLLECTIONS | When Most of Us Missed Dumbledore's Sexual Preferences

"...And then, Charlie didn't have children or marriage," a thoughtful Rowling tells the interviewer, before meeting his eyes with an enigmatic look on her face.

"Is he gay?" the interviewer asks. 

"Tsk... Dumbledore's gay," the authoress clarifies, her face impassive, the sheerest hint of a smile playing around the corners of her lips. 

She pauses for a couple of seconds before recalling, "I told a reader that once, and I thought she was gonna slap me."

And then turning her head to the paper on the table, she adds, "But I always saw Dumbledore as gay."

WATCH the dialogue here:

Such was the manner of conversation during which J.K. Rowling openly revealed Dumbledore to be gay. The conversation is a part of a 2007 documentary titled "J.K. Rowling: An Year In The Life", first aired in the United Kingdom on channel ITV on 30 December 2007. And to this date, the claim is considered to be the biggest bombshell that the acclaimed creator of the Harry Potter books has dropped upon the franchise's fandom prior to the completion of the fantasy series that spanned seven books and eight films.

Apart from the reactions that followed Rowling's statement regarding Albus Dumbledore, which ranged from indifference to sheer outrage to happy surprise, not to forget the literary outrage that condemned Rowling for disappointing the imagination of devoted readers, who had formed their own full fledged profile of the Hogwarts headmaster, what interests one is how most of us (though, it would bot be an overstatement to say "all of us") missed the subtle hints that Rowling dropped about Dumbledore's sexual orientation through the course of the story she wrote. Or did she?

Well, that is a question that remains unanswered, but coming to the assumed clues that seem to be pointing out Dumbledore's homosexuality, did we really miss the hints? Was the headmaster's peculiar dressing sense meant to be a sign of his homosexuality? With his 'purple cloak and high-heeled boots,' a 'flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet,' a flowered bonnet at Christmas or his fascination with knitting patterns some sort of signals that went unheeded by even the most die- hard Potterheads?

Moreover, did the detailed account of Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald bear instances from the lives of the two men that seemed to be directed towards Dumbledore's sexual preferences? The headmaster does say this about Gellert Grindelwald in Deathly Hallows, Chapter 35:

“Grindelwald. You cannot imagine how his ideas caught me, Harry, inflamed me. Muggles forced into subservience. We wizards triumphant. Grindelwald and I, the glorious young leaders of the revolution."

“Oh, I had a few scruples. I assuaged my conscience with empty words. It would all be for the greater good, and any harm done would be repaid a hundredfold in benefits for wizards. Did I know, in my heart of hearts, what Gellert Grindelwald was? I think I did, but I closed my eyes. If the plans we were making came to fruition, all my dreams would come true."

But, does this signify his love for Grindelwald, or is it directed towards his love for the power he so wished to have at that time?

The existence and the meaning of such clues and hints remains a matter of debate. What stands out clear though, is the fact that Rowling, in her books, embedded a myriad of the woes of today's world: whether it was the discrimination between the "pure- bloods" and the "mudbloods", or the non- acceptance of the giants, and the werewolves, or the mistreatment of the house- elves, Rowling, through her works targeted the issues of racism, caste-ism, and slavery, all the while telling her readers to break free of these abstract walls that do more harm than good, and to choose to channel the wonders of love- the power of which a gay headmaster revealed before one of his students- a young, bespectacled wizard boy, who, with his flair for adventure, still lives within most of us in our imperfect muggle world.