Naming talents

My daughter seems to have this uncanny ability to give the most perfect names to our pets. This includes animals that we have just rescued or she has just met. She would not know much about their personality by then but she still does it every time!

She names one of our husky rescues 'Diva', the very first day she came home. Even if I had sat with a book and made notes I could not have come up with a better name. She truly was and is a diva and her forever family made no changes to her name after they adopted her. She could never be anything but  a diva!!!

Few weeks ago we rescued a family - mum and four pups from the streets of Doha and my daughter named one pup 'Cheeky'. Again a truly fitting name for the cheekiest monkey I have ever met! :)

My LG seems to have a natural talent for naming pets and what perfect names :D 

Disappointing reaction

Tennis superstar Serena Williams lost the semi-final match in the Australian Open against Naomi Osaka. 

Her reaction of bursting into tears during the post-match press conference leaves me baffled and disappointed! Any sports person, let alone someone who has won 23 Grand slam championships, would be expected to handle a loss with more sportsmanship. 

It was clear that she was disappointed in herself, but losing a match should be treated just as that - losing a single match. There are always good and bad days for anyone in any profession, especially demanding ones like in sports or any performing arts. 

Such reactions might teach younger girls and all youngsters really that losing is bad. Which is not what you want them to learn. Celebrities in such positions especially have the responsibility of behaving appropriately in public and setting the right example. So, while I admire Serena, this is highly disappointing behaviour indeed.  

I hope easily impressionable youngsters and others see this for what it is - just one day's loss and a poor choice of reaction owing to probably many factors. Failure is a big part of any work that one takes up and should only teach better methods of approach and way forward with lessons learned. 

India, COVID-19 status and my theories

When COVID-19 reared its ugly head last year, I was petrified. Not for myself living in another country but for my fellow countrymen and women living in India. With such a vast population, diverse cultures and people at all rungs of the social ladder, it is impossible to implement any kind of measures and expect to handle all this with our less than perfect public healthcare system. 

Or so I thought.....the government and administrators, irrespective of party affiliations, did an admirable job of containing the spread in initial days. While the economy did suffer and is yet to recover as in most parts of the world, and we did lose many lives, the statistics and status are so much better than what I feared! Of course I am not celebrating yet as we are by no means out of the woods and we are yet to deal with any mutating variants. Just saw a post in news about how it will be another seven years of living with the virus at current rates of vaccination around the world! But there is still the mystery of how India fared as well as it has.

I agree with common expectations but immunologists such as herd immunity, but I do have a theory of my own. I cannot help but attribute a good percentage of these numbers simply to the food we eat as Indians. The sheer number of vegetables and fruit we use is mind boggling. I often tell my daughter she is lucky she was born with Indian roots as she would never have heard or experienced some of the food otherwise. How many of her friends from her international school in Qatar would even know of ridge gourd, snake gourd or flat beans! Don't even get me started on my all time favourite Sundakkai or Turkey berry as they are better known. No dish in the world would beat Sundakkai sambar for me and I have many delightful memories from my childhood associated with this dish. The list of course is endless and I am barely scratching the surface here. Let us not go after the new superfoods only, but also remember and use native /indigenous products from our own countries. India has long used millets and lentils which are recognized superfoods today and there are so many more that need to be revived. 

So my fellow Indians and others from various parts of the world; don't fall into the trap of eating processed food and regular veggies only. Go back to your roots and use other less used veggies and fruit. Eat healthy as much as you can and of course exercise. Good immunity is what we can aim for and work hard on. I am sure our bodies will be in a great position to fight this and any other diseases in store for us in the future.