Infinite thoughts

Today is 1st of May. Government of India announced the eligibility for all adults and vaccination is expected to start today.  But where are the vaccines?  Not in sight at all. Should you worry? May not be. May be yes. I don't know. This is little ranting and also an attempt to bring some sanity to thoughts to myself and my readers. Second wave of COVID-19 has hit India badly. We are seeing the infections in every corner. No day passes by when we don't hear anyone known getting affected or even deaths. It has been proven beyond doubt that vaccination is the only reliable way to avoid serious illness by COVID-19. Then why isn't it available in required quantities across India? We all need to remember we are 130 crore people country. The challenges are mammoth. Probably no one has had any experience in handling such a huge pandemic. Some mistake have happened and are bound to happen.  I have a feeling that GoI definitely failed to anticipate the impact of second wave, gross...

First of all, wish you all a very happy new year! Due to the corona outbreak(COVID-19), India is in a lockdown state and today becomes the first official lockdown.  My family and I have been at home since last one week and have stepped out only thrice or max four times to complete some chores - primarily groceries and vegetables and milk. Rest of the time, all of us are under one roof, not stepping out at all. Meghana and I have been working from home since last Wednesday. Though my son has school shut, there were some revisions to be done. Today was a bit different. It was a real holiday for him and me. And wegot a time to do lot of house work and also a lot of time to play with Mrunmay.  Jenga blocks  ruled the day. He also tried his hands at making "पोळ्या" and washing utensils. Now that all the maids and domestic help are off, entire housework has to be done amongst three of us and Mrunmay is realizing it to a large extent. At times he gets sa...

On way to his Robotics class, Mrunmay and I were waiting on a signal to turn green. And as usual, there were several vehicles breaking the signal and rushing ahead. This 12 yo had this question, again - "Baba, why are these people breaking the signal?" Most of the time, I have answered - "I don't know. They shouldn't". But today was different. I answered - "Maybe their parents didn't teach them to follow the civic rules.." I have been raised by parents who inculcated the habit of following the civic rules along with making me understand the "why" part of it. Even today, I don't jump the signals, I don't park in the no-parking zone, I do not enter from the wrong side. From day 1 of my car driving, I have been wearing the seat belt and from day 1 of my two-wheeler driving, I have been wearing a helmet. This was long before both these rules came into existence.  And Mrunmay has seen me doing it all along. Even he doesn...

Clipping from newspaper talking about problems faced by physical book industry Today's newspaper carried an article underlining the fact that in general the tendency to purchase books is reducing. True it is. Landscape is changed in last several years. There are changes at social, behavioral, technical and mental levels. And book industry, at least regional book industry, hasn't changed much. Social: Number of nuclear families has gone up. They have shifted to smaller places. This means lesser space available for books. People are also engaging in lot more varied activities, which were not available in the past - lot of newer sports, adventure sports, various hobbies, parties, movies, get-togethers and what not. The extent of all such activities was considerably lower say about 20 years back. Reading books was a favorite activity during free time and at times at the cost of studies/work 😉 Behavioral: People are commuting a lot. Spending mo...

Yesterday I came across two articles and instantly realised how deceptive are the arguments presented in those articles. Hyperloop pilot in India is planning to reduce Bengaluru-Chennai travel time to just about 30 minutes. Currently it takes about 6 to 7 hours by road or train and 1 hour by flight. So the time take by the  Hyperloop pods  is going to be similar to that by aeroplanes except - to quote - for "security checks, taxing, boarding and exits". The security checks at the airports are there for a reason and I don't see why there won't be similar checks at the Hyperloop Terminals. In fact, any mishap has a potential to damage all other pods in the tube, the security check might be more stringent!! Boarding process will be similar to that of planes, albeit probably a bit faster if the number of passengers are lesser as compared to the plane. There will be safety requirements, which would need passengers to be briefed every time. And then even if it is ju...

It has been 50 days now since demonetization was announced by Indian Prime Minister Mr. Modi. And we all have experienced wide set of emotions through these 50 days. We have been happy, ecstatic, overjoyed, sad, pained, frustrated, hopeful and what not. And every time we have felt our emotions are justified. I have been through many of these emotions except for pain and frustration. I haven't had to stand in a queue for more than 15 mins and have been able to use digital payments at most of the places, conserving my cash that I had exchanged in mid-November. After initial surge in usage of digital wallets, the downward trend is very evident now. I have seen people giving out reasons such as wallet is full, swipe machine not available to avoid accepting digital payments. To the extent that one of my regular lunch outlets allowed me to pay the bill after I "get" the cash.  On one of the occasions, swipe machine of my vegetable vendor wasn't really working. I encour...