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. 

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!  

Thank you 2020 and welcome 2021

Happy New Year everybody. Wishing you and yours good health, happiness and success in 2021.

I am as happy as anyone else to see 2020 go. But in all honesty I cannot say it was all bad. Don't get me wrong, 2020 had enough sorrows and created desperate situations for me as much as anyone else, however there were enough other 'firsts' that make me appreciate it as well. 

For one thing, and if nothing else, it gave me enough time to stop and think. To stop and slow down by force. That created new avenues to channel my energy and talents. Thus were born some new and long- pending ventures.

So, if we are alive today, having survived 2020, let's not complain too much. Let's take those experiences, the good, bad and ugly and take it all forward in 2021 to the best of our abilities. Let us focus on positivity in life and be useful to ourselves and others. That might be the single best and common goal for all mankind. 

All the best wishes for an excellent year people. Lots of love.

Catch-up

A long gap again!

Life suddenly got busy again in this eventful COVID-19 year. I became a student again at none other than Yale University and what an experience it has been!!! Deserves another post in itself.....

Following this I was invited as a Guest of honour and key note speaker for the 53rd Engineer's day event organized by the Institute of Engineers in India, Qatar chapter. The selected theme was one of the best I have spoken on - Self-reliant India. 

The event had such an impressive line-up of distinguished guests and eminent speakers including 

H.E the current Ambassador of India- Dr. Deepak Mittal, 

Prof. K.K Aggarwal, Chairman, National Board of Accreditation, India and

Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai (Moon man of India), Chairman of National Design and Research Forum, India.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and talks and leave you here with some pictures :)

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.  

Even Republicans endorse a Democrat this election!

I am not sure if this has ever happened before but hard core Republicans and three ex-team's staffers have endorsed Democratic candidate Biden!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-endorsement-mccain-bush-romney-staffers-reject-trump/

In their letters, the main thing that jumps out other than the many adjectives describing President Trump of course, is that they would like to see decency return to the Whitehouse and the country!

This election is going to be extremely interesting :)

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! 

Pencil drawing - Sandy

I am no great artist, but I have found it cathartic to draw my pets if they cross the rainbow bridge. It never gets easy or better......it has been more than eight weeks and I still want to burst into tears every time I think of Sandy. 

I did a pencil sketching of her and found that I could recall every patch of fur on her face with its contours in all its glory! 

This is Sandy

Hand sanitizers - a word of caution

Of course we live in the times of COVID-19, where hand washing and/or use of hand sanitizers are heavily promoted. Even before the outbreak, I have seen worried moms use hand sanitizers generously in their attempts to keep theirs and their children's hands clean. This has always scared me and I'll tell you why:

1) When you read the big list of things that go into making of a hand sanitizer, can you easily identify most of them and are you comfortable in using them on your skin? High concentrations of alcohol, parabens and pthalates lead to problems from Eczema to hormone imbalance!

2) One of the ingredients in many sanitizers, soaps and even toothpaste - triclosan deserves a point of its own. Here are areas of issues due to triclosan alone:

a) Resistance to antibiotics

b) Hormonal disruptions

c) Compromising immune system 

3) Bacteria will develop resistance and evolve, making many antibiotics useless to human beings. So in the event of another infection, the common antibiotics used may not work.

There is no substitute to hand washing with clean water and common soap. In the event of emergencies, please do carry hand sanitizers, but please avoid overuse. Antibiotic resistance and release of toxic substances are not a problem to only an individual using them but to all living creatures inhabiting our one Earth! The age-old belief - 'Everything in moderation' continues to prove true. Stay safe.

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