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...

Mrunmay was keen to watch this movie about the Math Genius and had kept his eyes on the release date. So as soon as it was released, we watched it on 1-Aug. So the review is a bit late and some points may be little blur in details. My first reaction after the movie: this is a story about a celebrity (and that to an egoist celebrity) and her daughter. I really don't know how close this one is to real life and hence putting up my points from the movie angle only and not comparing it with real life at all. Shakuntaladevi , who was a genius in maths, since her childhood, grows doing Math shows across various places - schools, restaurants and what not. Having sacrificed her childhood and schooling for being the primary bread-earner of the family, she develops a huge grudge against her father. And against her mother too - for not speaking up.  As life takes turns and as Shakuntaladevi fights against the odds, she reaches London. After more struggle there, she finally finds herself ...

As the lockdown is continued, the domestic help is not available and we are our own to prepare the daily food. Although the restaurants are allowed to serve delivery orders, I have decided not to indulge for some more time. This gives rise to the discussion about "what is it for tomorrow's meal?" - which is very common, even otherwise. However, now that we are not ordering from restaurants, we are tempted to try out different cuisines (that's common now-a-days). During one such discussion, Italian cuisine popped up. We have tried our hands on preparing Pizza (using readymade base) and it worked out pretty well. Next one is Pasta, which is an easy affair, but it hasn't seen the light of the day as yet. While discussing all this, suddenly a question popped up.. "What do Italians eat routinely?" Do they eat Pizza and Pasta as daily meals or there are other items which are far more common that Pizza and Pasta? If you have been to Italian restaurant, you woul...

My curious fella once asked - "Baba, why is a country referred to as 'she' or 'her'?" e.g. Her Flag etc. I didn't have an immediate answer. I somewhat knew why would it be, but I couldn't put it in a logical convincing manner. I realised, I needed to look up some references.  My thinking was on following lines. The word "mother" instantaneously gives reference to "birth", "care". Since one takes birth in a given land, it is easy to relate it to be "motherland". It invokes the emotions similar to visiting your mother when you come back to your native place. So the feminine reference is largely on an emotional basis rather than any grammatical one. My research started indicating that although majority of the references are feminine, there's no basis for that in english grammar. English language is gender neutral and has no feminine and masculine distinction between words. However Latin, from which English is or...

Since the lockdown got announced again yesterday, there is unrest and uncomfortable feeling amongst the people around. First of all, I sense utter distrust that this lockdown is not going to be useful. If the administration couldn't set up required health infrastructure in last 100 days, how would they improve it in next 10 days? On what basis, did the government announce "unlockdown 1" and all? Many people had just started with their business and again this lockdown.  One thing is clear to me. Lockdown or no lockdown. Social distancing is required. Wearing masks is a must. Do not let your guard down. And while taking care of your physical health, you also need to take care of your mental needs. Especially of the little ones in your house. Mrunmay has been waiting to meet his grandparents for over three months now and was anxious to meet them in next few days hoping there would be further relaxations. They are in same city, but still we couldn't meet him. The thought ...

So, it is announced now . The number of cases in and around Pune were increasing continuously. Thanks to all the free flow on the streets. People giving up their precautions and pretending that the pandemic is over. When everyone should have resorted to essentials only, people were finding it brave to step out. On a personal level, I have stepped out only for necessary thing - once every week - typically for vegetables and other perishable items such as curd. As a family, we stepped out for couple of important items - a work chair for Meghana, few utensils in the kitchen and some art material. First two items had become a priority over last 3 months. Third one was essential to keep ourselves engaged during the lockdown period. However, we ensured that we picked up only essential stuff and left the shop at the earliest.  On the online shopping front, we ventured onto few items, but mostly those were of P1 category, if not P0. However, for all such items, we ensured that the packages...

If you are reading this regularly (?), you would have noticed it. The blog has got a face lift.  It all started when I realised that one of my avid readers is finding it difficult to search posts on a mobile device. He has been reading my posts on his mobile and has read several of my posts. But searching on mobile was a big problem for him. I acknowledged that it was a time to relook at the blog theme. After spending an hour or so, I bumped upon the current theme. I was looking for 2 features primarily. Mobile First Easy access to archives After trying to fix the old theme, I finally gave up and decided to look for a different theme.  This one is giving a fresh look to the blog. The ocean background is absolutely stunning and the white area for blog posts is giving the required contrast. The left navigation is prominent and can be customized to add more widgets in future, if I decide to. When switched to mobile view, the left side bar gets nicely tucked under the menu an...

After the initial enthusiasm that lasted for 8 days, I got to pen down the thoughts only today. In the initial days, there was excitement about noting down the thoughts, experience for posterity.  But on 9th day onwards realized it has become repetitive (not a surprise at all). The work - office work as well as home work started consuming most of my time. There was stress building up as Mrunmay wasn't getting enough time from us (Meghana and Me). So blogging took lower priority as compared to spending time with Mrunmay.  While we have spent more time with him as compared any other vacation, Mrunmay is finding it very less. It is natural. Seeing your parents 16 hours in front of your eyes and still getting about 60 to 90 minutes of their time - most of the times fragmented is NOT same as seeing them for 4-5 hours and still getting 60 minutes of their time. Can't get a better way to learn/teach "Theory of Relativity"!! Just the other day, realized that I hav...

And the boredom is kicking in. Mrunmay's exams are about to get over and there's only so much he can do on his own. Meghana and I are on call almost through the working hours and hence can't spend time with him. And the post lunch he starts getting bored. Today he said - "I am hating this WFH". I am not surprised. There were very few days when either of us were WFH and he was also home. So he is not used to see us around but not spend time with us. He is finding some ways on his own to keep himself occupied - reading and TV is common. Now he ia also spending time with his Robotics kit, some Python programming, some synth etc. Hope he will find more ways as days go by. Another day has passed without stepping out. Routine is somewhat settled, but will change again as Mrunmay's exams will get over on this Friday. Hopefully I can start working early and finish early so that I can give him some time.  I was talking to one of the team members generally che...

Today it completes 1 week of official Lockdown in India. For me it is 2 weeks. I started WFH and reduced stepping out from 18th Mar. Pretty good I would say. Today evening I stepped out for some groceries - primarily bread and curd. We are keeping some bread in stock, it comes handy for quick snack or breakfast. Curd comes handy for quick salad. It has been a while both of us have cooked for so long. It is very likely that we would feel like not doing one or more items and on such days these two items would come handy. I had been "पोळी" maker of the house for several years. But somehow over last few months I lost touch and the "पोळी" wasn't turning out soft enough. It was frustrating. But finally, got into the knack again. Today I went into self observation mode and noticed that I was picking up the dough little more that required. This was an improvisation over last few days. This would make the "पोळी" little thicker and keep it softer. But ...

The boredom is kicking in. Today morning, I wasn't feeling like working from home and was craving to meet my team in person. Somehow managed to survive initial couple hours and then I got into the work mode.  It is not a first time I am working from home. I have done that when I was waiting for good opportunity after mSauda and then after Giftease days. Even in those days, I would follow the WFH guidelines I listed earlier . But never got this bored. The difference was - I knew I would be working alone. This time I have a team and I interact with them through the day. I miss those small interaction with them while walking past them. Some intense discussions and white boarding on some design piece. Filling up the walls of my cabin with various data points and discussing them with the team. Some jokes and pulling legs of others! I miss that a lot. To recover from the boredom, I happened to post something on Facebook and while scrolling down the feed noticed that there were ...

Another day without stepping out of the home.. rather out of the society. I had to make a trip to the gate to collect wheat flour which was home delivered by our grocer. Since no delivery personnel's are allowed inside the society, i stepped out of the home, walked up to the main gate and collected it. Same thing happened for medicines for Dada. The pharmacist delivered it to the gate. It took me some time to fetch it from the security. And by that time the guard delivered it home. The milk is now taken care off. And it seems BBDaily is also resuming the milk delivery from tomorrow. Hoping to see it working regularly. It being a Sunday today, spent a lot of time in cleaning, rather deep cleaning the room. Since the maids are off, it has taken a toll on cleaning. With cooking in the morning, it becomes nearly impossible to clean the house completely and happens only in bits- n-pieces. The deep cleaning kind of gave a sense of satisfaction!! This social distancing is kind o...

The milk supply is still in mess. BBDaily is not able to deliver the milk. But there's another fellow in our locality who is delivering cow milk and has resumed his operations. So milk is sorted out and I don't have to go out for that.  Now that more than a week has gone by, we were going low on veggies and was planning to make a trip tomorrow (Sunday). But thankfully got it almost home delivered. A tempo with veggies came by to the society gate and I got some stock for next 4-5 days and that too at reasonable rate. And the veggies were fresh and of good quality! For the first time we all three sat together to process the veggies!! It was a fun to do chit chat while processing veggies. While listening to song "ये रे घना, ये रे घना" i recalled the revised version i had made "ये मेघना, ये मेघना" and that triggered some nostalgic memories of our courtship. Mrunmay got curious about what all romantic things we had done. Looks like a "candle...

Looks like the things are settling in to some extent. I didn't have to step out. Had enough milk packets at home.  During some dull moments I thought of some points for WFH. Everyday, without fail, have your bath, get ready for office and behave as if you are going to office. That sets the mood for you as well as for you family members. Had it been you alone at home and doing work from home, this might not have mattered much. But when your entire family is around including kid(s), it definitely matters to set this mood. Continue with your other routine of lunch, tea/coffee, snacks etc. Those are meant for breaks from work and although you are working from home you still need those breaks. Use those breaks to stroll around the house, a bit of stretching would also help.  After a week of WFH, I noticed that my digestive system ia giving trouble, sue to lack of enough activity. Some laborious house work would help to set it straight - like cleaning, mopping the floor o...

Day two of the lockdown started with missed milk delivery. Bigbasket is struggling to keep up there delivery channel operational and resulted into not having milk at home. Thankfully, there was surplus at home, which was accumulated over last 3-4 days. It helped in getting through the morning coffee for me and Dada; and milk for my kiddo. But considering the situation, I didn't feel the milk supply would be normal for another few days. Decided to step out to get the milk. While stepping out, quickly checked with my neighbors if they wanted to buy some milk. Intention was to help them avoid the trip outside! And it did help.  Tried 3 different shops, only to find Amul milk in the fourth shop. Just to ensure i don't have to make another round tomorrow, have made provision for tomorrow!  Mrunmay had his exam starting today. The school decided to use alternate ways for the exam and are sending out question paper over email to parents and we are expected to invigilate...

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...

As the year-end approached, I was on the lookout to continue our tradition of watching a movie on the first day of the year. This has been going on for the last 3 years - started with Dangal , followed by Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and then Simmba last year. I was aware of the sequel of Jumanji being released - Jumanji: The Next Level and quickly checked out the availability of tickets. To my surprise, the tickets were easily available for IMAX 3D as well as 4DX. Since I never had watched a full movie in a 4D environment, I decided to give it a shot. I was thrilled by the original Jumanji and the next one. Both were done very nicely keeping the audience engaged at every moment and I was hoping to have a similar experience for this movie as well. Additionally, there was excitement for the 4D aspect as well.  The plot of the movie is pretty much the same as that of the last two movies. However, this one is more predictable. Since the time they have introduced the video ga...

Recently, INC announced their latest flagship scheme as part of their election manifesto - NYAY - Nyunatam Aay Yojana (Minimum income guarantee scheme), which promises to pay Rs. 72000/- per year to "poorest of the Indians" (conditions apply!). Followed by the announcement, the INC President Mr. Rahul Gandhi pronounced it as "Surgical Strike on the Poverty". While I do not intend to go into the details of the NYAY or whether it is feasible or not, few thoughts definitely popped up in my mind. Firstly, since Mr. Modi has taken over as the PM, he has changed the complete narrative of the political and government agenda. His government started coining the acronyms for various schemes. The acronyms are usually self-explanatory for a common man. Some examples: MUDRA Bank - Micro Unit Development and Refinance Agency Bank - Mudra means currency and this scheme relates to financing for SMEs NITI Aayog - National Institue for Transforming India - Niti means "p...

We are hearing the spread of fake news via social media - FB or WA. Government is also trying to muscle its power to curb the spread of rumors via WA. UN study is also relating the violence with FB engagement. This is essentially is getting caused due to speed at which the digital media can travel. A single person can send the same message to potentially thousands of people over WA or can simply post it on FB and hundreds of his/her friend can see it. Government is trying to finding a digital equivalent of " Sec 144 (unlawful assembly) " and is forcing WhatsApp to help with means and tools to achieve the same. In a real world (i.e. before digital world), it took time to spread any news. There were only limited ways people could communicate with each other. Either meet in person or pick up a phone and talk to another person. If you are a bad guy and wanted to spread fake news/rumor, you would want to do it silently without attracting any unnecessary attention. This ...