COVID, India and multilateralism!

India is struggling with a huge spike in COVID cases in the last few weeks plus dealing with variant versions of the virus. This is not a unique problem to the country, but something all nations are facing. However, the huge population and less than ideal healthcare scenario in some states and pockets have led to current problems. Many of the variants of the virus were not originally from India, but from UK and South Africa. As viruses do, there is however continuous mutations and we no longer know which version we are dealing with or how many versions are going around.

I had feared such eventual results from the start of this pandemic for my country, just due to its sheer population and my fears have now come true. India had handled the pandemic with panache so far and supplied vaccines and other medicines to the rest of the world including HCQ to the US. Many of these were to developing countries at no or very little cost. Some countries of EU had contractual agreements for supply of vaccines as well and these are the countries who started having panic attacks seeing the crisis now in India. Understandable, but their reaction at a time of global emergency is not forgivable. Chancellor Merkel completely forgot to diplomatically sympathize with the people of India, while enquiring about the promised vaccines. Her poor choice of words shocked me and apparently a good many people and governments around the world. 

In case you missed it, here is what she said: “The truth is, we haven’t treated our pharmaceutical industry so well for many years…I am glad that we still have pharmaceutical production in Belgium, Holland, Germany.” Highlighting the issue of vaccine shortage, she said, “We now have a situation with India where, in connection with the emergency situation of the pandemic, we are worried whether the pharmaceutical products will still come to us.”

Merkel also cautioned, “Of course, we have only allowed India to become such a large pharmaceutical producer in the first place, also from the European side, in the expectation that this should then also be complied with. If that is not the case now, we will have to rethink.”

I would very much like to know how Germany and EU have "allowed" India to become a pharmaceutical producer? Did they come up with extraordinary contracts, privileges, tax exemptions on imports and exports or special sanctions? And such criticism after India along with other countries have repeatedly requested and proposed to WTO to suspend the IP rights over COVID medical supplies. This was blocked by the USA and EU among other developed countries. maybe if they did not care so much about profits, India can manufacture and supply more vaccines? USA has blocked a lot of the necessary ingredients being exported to India which affects the vaccine production. So, who is to blame really?

Clearly the Indian government, its people and many around the world did not see Merkel's comments as appropriate or the threat acceptable. Many geopolitics experts around the world have found her comments extremely patronizing and very backwards in thought. The Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India sent out a subtle tweet regarding multilateralism. The Embassy of Germany too sprang into action with a series of tweets expressing concern for the situation and promising full cooperation to fight the pandemic. Of course, they also claimed responsibility and bragging rights for two private companies Linde and TATA coming together to secure and airlift 24 oxygen transport tanks! Few hours ago, the Chancellor herself announced that Germany was in solidarity with India and is urgently preparing a mission of support. What kind of support is not clear yet, but the pressure to support is exposed?

On the other hand, the Biden/Harris government has been under heavy scrutiny for their silence to acknowledge the crisis in India or offer any kind of support. Over the weekend, after being trolled mercilessly on social media for their tepid response to India's situation, the US government has finally released a statement of support and is working to send PPE kits, rapid diagnostic kits and ventilators. I still do not hear about suspending the IP rights to help in producing more vaccines or unblocking export of important ingredients for vaccine production, but hoping good sense and common sense will ultimately prevail! Even American citizens are tweeting their support and asking their government to release unused vaccines in storage and release patents, enabling easier manufacture of vaccines elsewhere. At least at the time of a global pandemic, one would think this should be fast tracked, approved and implemented without much discussion. 

Good luck India in combating this pandemic. This too shall pass and you will once again come out with flying colours. Stay strong!

#India #COVID #Germany #EU #Merkel #Biden #KamalaHarris #USA #Vaccine #vaccinemaitri #pharmaceuticals #SJaishankar #GoI #Externalaffairs #multilateralism #news #politics

Women leadership, biases and biology

Came across this interesting research which shows that women are better than men in a vast majority of leadership competencies measured - Research: Women Score Higher Than Men in Most Leadership Skills (hbr.org)

The summary of the study is in fact misleading, stating that women are every bit as effective as men. Wrong. By this data, statistically, women are clearly better and more effective than men in every competency measured except two where very marginally men are better. 

The study points out another interesting aspect where women rate themselves much lower. This is no surprise to me, as I know people of my gender are masters at doing this. We constantly tell ourselves to be humble and firmly believe that there are many ways of doing the right thing or getting a job done. This somehow gives the idea to the other gender that we are indecisive or lack the capability to take immediate and rash decisions as they mostly do. We do lack the arrogance that our male counterparts seem to be born with and that society loves to encourage in men starting right after their birth!

A woman achieving success in a corporate environment is a mix of sheer hard work (many times more than men), talent (needs to be proved constantly to compete with men and there is no scope for errors at all), and multitasking like a super human being (you have no idea!). All this while fighting biases continuously, tackling them from subordinates and superiors. 

As the research tries to explore, why do most women step out of the race? Many times they are forced to! Senior leaders, men mostly and some women, are very united in their thoughts to not allow a woman to be elected into senior positions. Or at a certain point the women give up the fight. In spite of all the hard work, who would want to deal with constant pressures and biases and bad mouthing by colleagues for no reason except that she is a threat? 

After all this throw in biology. If the woman wants a family, she is doomed. Please don't try to give me the far and few examples of some women who have made it while also raising a family. They are a rare exception and the other 99.9% of women are proof of this. Women work with guilt all the time if they have kids. They plan their work while at home and plan other home errands while at work too. This is a superhuman requirement that only seems to affect women. Men are never expected to do this and they would never be bothered even if someone expects them to. 

This post - Why Women Do the Household Worrying - The New York Times (nytimes.com) - regarding the mental load for women to bear is very interesting and bang on. Cognitive labor divided into four parts - anticipate, identify, decide and monitor is solely left to women in most cases. 

Women also deal with fluctuating hormones everyday (menstrual cycle), pregnancies, menopause and many other hormonal problems at different stages of life. These are amazing statistics that in spite of all this, women shine in leadership skills. Kudos to all the exceptional women in any level of professional career and relationship status. What you all do is completely exceptional and magical!

#women #leadership #cognitivelabor #equalparenting #mothers #men

A rape, a fast-track court and a death penalty

Last month a five year old was raped by a 20 year old man. The entire process of investigation, filing of case, the trial in a 'Protection of Children from Sexual Offences' (POCSO) court and the awarding of death penalty to the accused was completed in a record 26 days. 

I am indeed happy and proud to read this news todays and hope such police officers and courts continue their exemplary work. While we recognise the obvious parties and their dedication in bringing this judgement to fruition, we should also laud the parents, family, friends and cousins of the girl who all played an important part in not only aiding the rescue and treatment of the girl, but also provided enough witness power and direct & circumstantial evidence to identify and arrest the culprit within five hours. 

This in a country which routinely feels ashamed to admit rape and protects the accused by not filing a case in order to protect the victim. Yes, it is a highly confusing and vicious cycle which enables most rape perpetrators to go scot-free!

This case is an example of all systems - families, villagers, police and judiciary - coming together to do the right thing in a very timely fashion. It will serve as a good lesson and send out a strong message to society at large. We applaud everyone involved and hope the POCSO courts continue their good work. Justice delayed is indeed justice denied!

Remembering the Trailblazers of Iceland on International Women's Day 2021

One of my most favourite historical events took place on the 24th of October 1975 – the day the women of Iceland went on strike!

90% of the women of the country, to demonstrate their importance, decided to not show up to work and perform their routine responsibilities for just one day. They came together in the streets to rally for equal rights. The strata of each woman in society did not matter; it did not matter if she was educated or not; it did not matter what kind of job she held. Homemakers, cleaners, white-collar employees, business leaders, MPs, girls - all rallied side by side. Rural women who were not able to physically join the rally in the cities, still followed their sisters and took the day off. I cannot think of another historical event that showcases the tremendous power, solidarity, and strength of women as this one does. This was surely not the first women’s movement however it was the most powerful, changing the course of Iceland’s policies with respect to women completely thereafter.

The country came to a standstill. Businesses had to close and, if open, dads had to take their children to work. They had to cook, clean, and be responsible for childcare. All for just one day. Things came back to normal the next day but with the knowledge that women are equal pillars of society. This proved to be a watershed moment, bringing to the fore the sheer force of and need for women.

Over the next five years, main changes included electing the first female president for Iceland - Vigdis Finnbogadottir – a divorced, single mother. Also, Europe’s first female president and the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. She was so popular, she remained president for the next 16 years!

While there were some reports of men not supporting this movement, most realized that they would come across very poorly in the face of such unity showed by the women. Some joined and fully supported the idea behind the movement. The husband of one of the main speakers was allegedly asked by a co-worker, "Why do you let your woman howl like that in public places? I would never let my woman do such things." The husband shot back: "She is not the sort of woman who would ever marry a man like you" (BBC). How we need more such men!

On this International Women’s Day 2021, it is important to recall such events, the strength it took, the mindset changes that it brought about in both men and women, and the empowerment it generated.

Let us invite all men to unite with the women in fighting for women’s basic rights, which are in fact human rights. Break your deafening silence and join the ranks of great men who were pioneers for women’s rights and liberation even more than women.

I honour some of such great men from India.

1)   Raja Ram Mohan Roy

The first Indian man to, as early as 18th century, work for upliftment of women. Worked to abolish the barbaric practise of Sati and fought to break the shackles of caste system.

 2)   Jyotirao Govindrao Phule

Activist and reformer, worked especially for women of lower castes. Together with his wife, Savitribai Phule, he started the first school for girls, despite being ostracised by their families. He advocated widow remarriage and also started an orphanage to reduce the incidence of female infanticide.

 3)   Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

The chief architect of the Constitution of India, Babasaheb is renowned for championing the rights of Dalits and their upliftment in society. Apart from this, he was responsible for the introduction of the Hindu Code Bill - which allowed women the right to file a divorce petition, and the right to inheritance.

 4)   Subramania Bharathi

One of the pioneers of modern Tamil literature who strongly opposed the caste system and worked tirelessly to uplift women through literature. He fought for the emancipation of women, against child marriage, stood for reforming Brahminism and religion.

Happy International Women's Day. But more than happy, let us make it a thoughtful and productive day, continuing through the years to come!

 

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. 

Web series - "Delhi Crime" my review

I like good web series but am not a crazy fan of television to watch series after series. This might be a reason why I have just watched the series "Delhi Crime" almost two years after it released on Netflix!

I must say I really did love the attempt. It gave me a fresh perspective on many issues regarding this case. I was one more citizen watching with absolute shock as this case was reported on news channels in 2012 and supported fully the protests by fellow citizens. However, I realised how fast this case was actually solved by the police and against potentially how many difficulties. How could it be simple to track six rapists in a city of 17 million plus surrounding states from where most of the culprits were? How could the police have possibly prevented such crimes when the ratio of police to regular citizens is so low? 

The kind of political and social pressures while dealing with an emotionally draining crime was fascinating to know more about. The actors of course going by the ratings, had done a fantastic job and the series kept up the pace and involvement of the audience through all the episodes. Kudos to the director for the background research done and the extremely good presentation.

If you have not watched this, I highly recommend that you do. But before that do expect to continue to be shocked by this crime as that is never going to go away!  

IPL 2020 and Thala Dhoni :)

The Indian Premier League is the most successful cricket league in the world and is usually held during the months of April and May. But this year being this year, the IPL obviously was affected too. Finally the IPL is being held now and the venue has changed from India to the UAE. I am very partial to my home team, The Chennai Super Kings! They are also one of the most successful teams in the IPL and have been in more finals than any other team. In spite of being suspended for two years, they won the title three times so far in the last eleven editions and were runners-up a whopping five times! That's just a little background for people not familiar with the IPL and CSK. 

Moving on to the only Captain that CSK has had so far - Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni is also former Indian National Team captain who led the Indian team to the elusive Cricket World cup victory in 2011. Dhoni, in my opinion is a walking Management legend on his own and you can learn so much from just observing him in action. Nicknamed 'Captain Cool', most of his fans have never seen him lose his cool, however in the very rare occasions that he has, we have pitied the one at the receiving end of it! His run chases are legendary and we live to see him hit beautiful boundaries in every match. 

Now obviously Dhoni is not in his prime now and pushing 40 is not a young age for a sportsman. However, he has never disappointed and has so far done justice to his multiple roles in the game. I am only very surprised at some fans and even cricket experts who start hammering him specifically every time India or CSK lost, no matter how good the game. For instance, this IPL 2020, CSK have only played two matches so far, won one and lost another. The match lost was a high scoring match and the total put on the board was only less than 20 runs short of victory. The total is in no way representative of a poor performance at all. Maybe the bowlers could have done a better job in controlling the runs given away to the opposition batsmen, but nevertheless it was a good game that any cricket fan should have enjoyed watching. I don't have a problem with half baked regular fans criticizing the match or captain, however what about the so called experts, or commentators of the game. These comprise of other former cricketers, so you would expect them to speak with some practicality. Does one expect to win every match? Is Dhoni to be singled out every time for a poor or even great performance but with end result of a loss? The same people will laud him shamelessly during the next match that CSK will win. 

In the midst of all such bad articles and tweets, I finally found a good article by former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who actually analysed the decisions made by Dhoni the Captain and Dhoni the batsman. Makes an interesting read and here is the link

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/ipl-2020-ms-dhoni-is-the-ultimate-realist-he-has-always-been-that-way/story-1qcIVV0vS2d3qYZAmQgPCI.html

In another instance, another team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, lost very poorly. A former cricketing legend took a dig at the Captain, Virat Kohli and of course dragged his poor wife along in his comments. This as well is a common underlying theme in India - blame the partner! 

Looking forward to the rest of the matches this edition, tolerating more of the good/bad articles and just watching our Dhoni in action! 

Prime Minister's address on Indian dogs

I loved the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's address today that included a bit about dogs. He spoke about their integral contribution to the Indian Army's services and importance in preventing acts of terrorism. He took the time to honour several dogs by their names which makes the whole narrative much more personal. For their trainers and units they were family, so it is only fair that their contribution was acknowledged by name, by none other than the Prime Minister himself. While the list is extremely small and the PM will not have enough time to list all martyred dogs in service, it certainly reflects the respect for all of them. 

The PM had also taken the time to research and list some of the native breeds of India and point out some of their special characteristics. They are so much more suited to the country obviously as they were natives here long before their western counterparts arrived and can handle the conditions and native food much better. He also spoke about research happening across Government agricultural institutes on these dogs. The PM encouraged people to do their research and learn more about all of this information, which is sound advice any day. 

The last bit was the best, where the PM asked every family thinking about adopting dogs to consider Indian breeds. One thing the PM should have added is to say adopt strays from the streets who are basically mixed breeds and are very resilient. But I will add this here. Strays are more loyal than any dog of a particular breed that you might 'buy'. Never buy a dog, whatever the breed may be, while there are so many homeless that you can save. People breed dogs for materialistic benefits and for most part the dogs are misused. Help prevent that, please!

It is important that people who have a voice use it for such matters, so it will be heard by more people. For this thank you Modi ji; animal lovers appreciate you taking the time to talk about this.  

Daggers drawn for the Duchess of Sussex as usual

I cannot understand the level of hate that goes around for the Duchess of Sussex. Wait, on the other hand, maybe I can. When a woman comes across as confident, self-assured, self-sufficient and is successful in life, it is the duty of society to take her down a notch or more than a notch if possible. Hence all stops are pulled by people who generally have no business poking into her life. Her past career as an actress apparently has people deciding that she does not deserve life as British royal or better yet, she 'got' Harry due to some diabolical plan along with her mother! Seriously? They seem happy and she has handled all crap with more grace and maturity than anyone so please move on people.

Take the most recent outburst for example. Markle merely encouraged the American people to use their vote at an online event that she spoke at. She has reiterated the importance of using one's right to vote and honour the past and future which is a reflection of the care for the community. Some of the statements made include very general statements like "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem, if you are complacent, you are complicit" etc., Note that Markle did not endorse any specific candidate.

These are very general statements, applicable for any democracy where your vote matters and has to be exercised. As a person who is well known, it is encouraging to see someone who uses their voice to say the right things. It is amazing to see how even this is a fault and has led to a TV show host, Piers Morgan, recommending that their titles be stripped. This after the couple have made it abundantly clear that they do not care for the title, power or responsibilities that come with it. What is his qualification to make such a recommendation in social media to the Queen is beyond most of us. A woman is shamed because she comes from the show world, but media is also show business today and does not provide any value in that case to his opinions.

His argument makes no sense; he thinks that since royals by UK law are not expected to comment, Markle has overstepped. Maybe he is not aware that she is a US citizen, and in the US , she is not expected to abide by UK law? Even in UK, in typical British confusing fashion, the royals have a right to vote but considered unconstitutional if they do (eye roll). What does that even mean?!!! 

Get a life people and please stop trying to make headlines using someone else's fame and name. 

India's 'Grand Old Party's' impending changes

We have recently had two very fine articles on Rahul Gandhi's leadership of India's Congress party. One is written by Dr. Ramachandra Guha and the follow-up to that by Dr. Rajmohan Gandhi. The links are below and hope you enjoy their well written pieces showcasing their valuable education and experience, as much as I did.

https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/why-my-assessment-of-rahul-gandhi-remains-unchanged-2281181

https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/rahul-gandhis-significance-in-todays-india-by-rajmohan-gandhi-2282929

Note that while both are actually in support of the Congress party, the views are more with respect to Rahul Gandhi and how his continuation as the party's representative in any upcoming elections will spell doom. Especially against the Modi government. I feel inclined to agree with Dr. Guha's views. How can we expect different outcomes in any elections when there are no changes to the principal opponent in the largest opposition party? Dr. Gandhi's heart is in the right place as all Congress supporters might agree, but I think the party has to move on in their search for an able and charismatic leader. 

For India's  sake let's hope this happens. The interim party president is said to be all set to resign tomorrow and set the wheels in motion.....fingers crossed!

Dr. Shyamala Gopalan - a thank you

I found this wonderful article which followed the Democratic VP candidate, Kamala Harris's mother's achievements and spoke more about the contribution of immigrant women especially from India to Western countries. 

https://scroll.in/global/970540/while-celebrating-kamala-harris-we-shouldnt-forget-her-trailblazer-mothers-contribution-to-the-us

It indeed made me very proud to read about Dr. Shyamala Gopalan, Harris's mother. She hailed from my State in India, Tamil Nadu and we also seem to have chosen similar fields of study and the very same area of research albeit in different decades. Dr. Gopalan's parents later settled in my city of Chennai following their retirement, pretty much in the same area I hail from! Other than these superficial reasons, there is so much more to be proud of though. 

In fact to better understand both Kamala Harris's and Dr. Gopalan's trailblazing lives, we might need to go one generation back and look at Dr. Gopalan's parents. We are talking about the 1940s and 50s when they have been so broad and open minded, looked to educate their son and daughters equally and in fact were not happy with Dr. Gopalan's first choice of education in Home Science as they were ambitious for their daughters. They wanted them to shine as doctors, engineers or scientists rather than learn just good home science, no offence to the subject at all. It goes on to show from where Dr. Gopalan gained her brains and confidence from. Did they think women were not suited for careers and need to be married off at an early age in order to procreate and be good wives and mothers? No, this does not seem to have featured in their discussions at all!

Later their daughter Shyamala decided to apply to the US and got admitted to Graduate school. It never occurred to them to stop her from travelling so far alone to study. In fact they used their retirement funds to partly fund her first semester of study and housing. Shymala then went on to complete her PhD and continued her important work and career until her last days. What a contribution to society!

Not only professionally, but personally she had joined the Black Civil Rights movement in the 1960s and that's how she met her future husband, not an Indian but a Jamaican. She felt confident in her decision and of her parents acceptance of her decision to go ahead with the marriage. She had two daughters from the marriage and brought them up with so much panache by of course following her role model parents. She was comfortable enough to also divorce and end the marriage when finally it did not work and had no need to worry about society and the 'shame' and stigma that divorce still carries in many parts of the world including India. She retained her maiden name till her death in 2009. Hats off to you mam, Dr. Gopalan, for being such an inspiration for us women everywhere. We are very proud of all your achievements, personal and professional. 

The article in the link I shared above focusses on immigrant women and how their contribution is overlooked. It also touches upon how generally immigrant women tend to be more productive than native women and I believe it is very true. Especially Indian women who reach American shores for an education. A good percentage of us have carved our own paths and owned our chosen careers. A word of request for the Middle East countries - please take note. Most migrant women work here and yet the sponsorship rules tie our lives here with our husband or father who are our 'Sponsors'. We need a 'No objection certificate' from them to work anywhere and I don't think there could be anything more insulting than this for a woman. Please also see the potential misuse possible here. Hope things will change soon. Till then I hope. 

You all go girls, keep rocking until changes become inevitable!

National Anthem - anything more beautiful?

For every human being, their National Anthem has to be the sweetest song on Earth! On this 74th Independence Day of India, our Indian soldiers flew the Indian flag at one of the topmost points on the Line of Control itself! 

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/independence-day-2020-indian-soldiers-raise-the-flag-in-j-ks-gurez-cue-goosebumps-2279958

Nothing more beautiful and stood as per protocol for this beautiful anthem in instrumental here. I tear up every time I hear it and pay it the due respects. 

Do share your anthems too and the protocols associated with respecting the individual anthems. I am sure there are many fascinating details for each.

Happy Independence Day to all Indians out there! 

Data manipulation and alternate history!

Like some movies having alternate endings, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Center for Advanced Virtuality created an alternate ending to the Apollo 11 moon landing this week. 

https://www.space.com/apollo-11-disaster-deepfake-video-tech.html

The video created had President Nixon's speech telling people in the news that the Apollo 11 mission was a failure. The technology available like deep-learning and artificial intelligence tools have enabled creation of such a perfect video. Of course this is not President Nixon speaking, but a voice actor, but it will be very hard for anyone to know the difference!  

It is quite scary to imagine the possibilities that such technologies provide for disruption of peace at so many levels. Highlights the need to never fully believe every news article or video and to always do a full research on any subject before conclusions. 

An old Tamil proverb "Kannal kaanbadum poi, kaadhaal ketpadhum poi; theera visaripadhe mei" (meaning - what you see is false, what you hear is untruths, what is the truth is well researched information only) is truer than ever today.

Nationality for Gods!

Now this in news:

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lord-ram-is-nepali-not-indian-says-nepali-prime-minister-kp-sharma-oli-2262148

Thank goodness Gods and their avatars are no longer gracing the Earth with their presence. They might need passports and visas :D

Little Sisters of the poor? I don't think so!

Today's US news had my blood boiling. The US Supreme court decided that companies, which find that it is against their religious beliefs, can deny their female employees the right to preventive healthcare! The most amazing thing is that this has been brought about by the case of Little Sisters of the poor against the State of Pennsylvania! It is precisely the poor who need such healthcare measures more than anyone else.

With all due respect to each individual's religious beliefs, a woman's decision to get pregnant, abort or have a child is none else's but her own, as it should be. You don't believe in it? Fine - don't do it, but imposing this on millions of women who might not feel the same is not religious freedom. Quite the opposite!

First and foremost, let's break this down. Preventive healthcare - what does this mean? Prevent something before it happens - including contraceptive pills and morning after pills, which stop pregnancy from happening. Isn't this a win-win situation for everyone? This is valuing life enough that you don't unnecessarily create it if you can't cope with the responsibilities. So do the sisters prefer that we bring in more lives to suffer in this world with overpopulation, no resources, more orphans and much more suffering? 

Abortion - maybe this is ending life, but again the earlier the abortion is done, the more chances that the foetus's heart has not even started beating yet. Then it is not technically a life that has started yet. But forcing women to keep the child will cause undue suffering to the mother and the child. In today's cut-throat competition, I think the kid will thank you for not bringing him/her into a world with no resources! Again slashing funding and giving the option to employers to not provide this as part of healthcare will affect the poorest of the poor the most. 

Now that the Supreme court has given a choice, employers who did not care or have a moral stand on this issue might find it profitable to suddenly become Catholic! let's hope the lower courts have better sense and common sense and justice will prevail in each state. 

If you want to read more, please find below good links:

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/biden-says-he-would-rescind-exemption-for-little-sisters-of-poor/

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-07-09/supreme-court-little-sisters-birth-control-preventive-care

Fox news is just a propaganda for the Republicans and has been hailing this as a personal victory.

In my opinion, no uterus, no opinion! So men, your opinion does not matter, as simple as that. Nuns fall in this category for me. No children, no opinion too please, as you do not know what it takes. Little sisters of the poor care for elderly. I am not sure why this was made their mandate! 

Kids, Moms and work ......in that order

 

I found these quite common but funny videos of kids crashing on their mom's video calls while working. Especially when they were on live TV! 

 https://scroll.in/video/966264/mummy-whats-his-name-daughter-crashes-professors-live-interview-on-bbc 

The struggle is very real and it is especially so for mothers. Sorry dads and I know some of few are quite hands on too, but children always seem to seek out their moms to ask for any kind of approvals or suggestions. I love how they have their own priorities and are so focussed on getting their job done, regardless of what is going on around them. They are perfectly justfied....in one case the boy wanted the mom's approval to have two cookies and in the other a little girl was just trying to find the perfect place for her unicorn painting! 

The way the two hosts handled the issue was also very different. One ended the interview abruptly and said quite seriously how these can happen in the times now. The other included the kid in the conversation, although she humorously then dominated the rest of the interview :) But you could clearly see relief on the mom's face when it was handled much better. Notice that both moms are holding senior and important enough jobs to be interviewed but motherhood is not negotiable. It is one responsibility that once accepted lasts forever. 

 I am glad I have mostly phone calls or team meetings without video, but I am sure people can usually hear my little one demanding to also speak to whoever is on the other end! :)

A woman as supreme leader?

The title said it all in this headlines yesterday: "Kim Jong Un's banished uncle may overtake his sister to rule over North Korea because he is a man". This is in this modern century, into the third decade of it! A banished, old uncle has a better chance of being the ruler next in line than a young, energetic and not banished, direct sister. Sad world indeed.

What can you expect when a great nation like United States of America has not yet produced a woman president? The conservative people even chose to vote for an African American, but not a woman! The lesser said about the current president the better......

Although not really interested in North Korea, I will keenly watch the news in coming weeks. As mother of two beautiful girls, what else do I have but hope!

Work from home for India's largest IT service provider

In the news today, I was reading about how Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT service provider implemented the work from home admirably.

The Indian government did not give much warning to its population before implementing, rather efficiently, the 21  days (then, now extended) lockdown. TCS was forced to implement moving of vital operations from secure locations to employee homes with not much benefit of time. Senior officials have thanked those that lived in their office to make this possible. Any organization should be very happy to have such displays of loyalty and work first attitude! Any special reasons for such happy and dedicated employees?

The COO, N Ganapathy Subramaniam has said that they moved mountains in the six hours after lockdown was announced. I completely believe him, knowing my country! While most of us worried about stocking provisions for home, this does seem a completely different kind of commitment. The complete difference in the model of work from home and the complexities that it brings for sensitive work can be overwhelming to the employees to say the least. So, the onus was also on the company to make the transition as seamless or at least as easy as practically possible.

TCS apparently had done everything from convincing customers (national and international), letting employees take their desktops home, staying of key teams in office for a whole week to set up secure systems to enabling security clearance from all customers, including Government customers.

The company has also expressed hope that government as promised will postpone liabilities if the situation continues. I think this is pretty much the same hope that every business owner, however small or big is banking on at the moment. But in the long run, how is this going to affect the tax payer and every inflation facing customer? Only time will tell. Better sense seems to prevail when it comes to global companies, industries, banking sectors and the like, giving us hope. But then Facebook did a great job of showing many videos today of people opposing the lockdown or the idea of staying safe at home in the US. It makes you question everything including common sense, which as they say is not really common!

The positive seems to be that most industries look at this as nothing more than economic slowdown, not a global financial crisis....yet. It is weird how economic slowdown has taken place because people are now only buying essentials!

Due to their efficient handling of the crisis, TCS are certain at this point that they do not have to layoff staff and can honor job offers made in the last year, although promotions, increments and new hires are on a freeze. But the model is so efficient, that they are considering extending the work from home even after the lockdown. This might well be the future as more companies realize that this is more cost efficient in terms of operations.

How is everyone else doing with work from home? Any other success stories?

Women leaders in the news

I came across this article by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox in the Forbes site and am a new fan! 

It is a well written article regarding countries with women leaders and how they have handled the response to COVID-19 most successfully. The words empathy, humane, simple, innovative, originality, clarity and decisiveness jumped out at me through the article.  

I also loved the way the write-up ended. The author wrote "there have been years of research timidly suggesting that women's leadership styles might be different and beneficial". The word 'timidly' seems like a small word, but actually means so much. Why are we afraid to recognize that women have different styles of leadership and that is ok? Not just ok, but even quite successful? Why can't we agree that both genders can learn from each other and yet have differences? Why can't we agree to disagree and see that it is a good thing? It is indeed time to recognize this and elect more women to various corporate boards, decision making committees and even government offices throughout the world. 

Full link here for people who want to read the article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#50e087883dec 

Technology and Parenting styles

I saw this headline today in NPR news and froze - "A must for millions, Zoom has a dark side and an FBI warning".

At home these days, I have my husband and elder daughter using zoom for meetings. My husband can take care of himself but I worry about my little one and her friends!
I have already been secretly monitoring her Zoom morning meetings daily this week for several reasons. One, I needed to hear from her teacher as well on everyday summary of lessons and feedback, so I know how things are going and if my daughter is coping. Second, this is still new for my daughter and I wanted to be around if she needed any help.
I realized today that I need not worry about my second reason, as she was handling the technical aspect like a pro. I chided myself for becoming one of those parents and the term 'helicopter parenting' came to mind. I told myself that I should probably not be as involved from tomorrow and let her have more privacy and then I see this in the news :(

Well, back to square one. Her safety is more important than her privacy. Zoom has promised to work more on security measures and I will continue to work on such measures from my end too!

These thoughts led me to do more research on parenting styles. Apparently the old Baumrind styles are of four types and I think I fall under the authoritative style. Do read up more; I do believe knowing our style helps us to understand the pros and cons and improve on areas where we could. Parenting is daunting at the best of times and the dilemmas parents have to face daily may not be understood by 'non-parent' adult friends! Do we protect our darlings from all the ugly things in the world or do we let them learn the hard way sometimes, so they become smarter?

One source I really liked to learn about the styles of parenting:
https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/parenting-style-four-types-of-parenting 

Another good site if you think you might be a bit more involved than necessary sometimes:
https://afineparent.com/be-positive/helicopter-parent.html

More to learn and reflect everyday :)