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

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! 

Ponmagal Vandhal review

 

Ponmagal Vandhal is an Indian, Tamil movie that released end of May 2020 on Amazon Prime. 

It released amidst much controversy as there was not much acceptance for online releases from Indian producers and distributors as they want traditional theater releases to still be preferred; how is that possible in such times of COVID, only they know! 

I admired the lead actress Jyotika's candid approach to the whole thing and how she hit the nail on the head in saying her movie would not get priority release once COVID crisis was done and movies started releasing in theaters again. Makes perfect sense really; why would you wait for a year or two to release a movie when you can do it now with other platforms. 

The story had my full admiration but the handling of it by the director left a lot lacking. What could have been a fantastic script, with enough twists and a wonderful attempt at awareness regarding child abuse was unfortunately lost in translation quite a bit. Was there a need to explain everything clearly? Aren't the audience smart enough to understand things left unsaid? However the cast was brilliant, though completely under-utilised. I have not seen so many actors/directors from the 80s and 90s come together in such a way for a long time. 

Congratulations to the producers Suriya and Jyotika and their 2D Entertainment for choosing wonderful themes of importance, especially to women and children. It is about time such themes are tackled. Next time maybe a better director!

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! :)

End of an era!

 

June 2020 has been one of the hardest months of my life for many reasons. The most important one of them was the passing of my dear Sandy. My constant companion since 2009; my most faithful friend and family member; my reason for coming home many times! 

I admit that I have simply been bursting into tears anytime I simply thought of her and hence this delayed post. I still do, but I can now write about it.....well, somewhat! Sandy made me a mother for the first time. I now had a fellow living being that depended on me to take care of her, walk her, feed her and bathe her. A member to include in grocery shopping lists and to talk about to everyone who would listen. Everyone knows how mothers cannot stop talking of their children, well, that was me too with Sandy. I moved houses for her and planned every day with her in mind, including visits to friends and family. Planned weekends ahead of time so that I could do more activities with her. When our second baby Dexy got added to the family, I was happy since Sandy now had company. Then the human babies came! 

Unfortunately, my time had to be divided between four babies now and there was little to go around. That is probably my biggest regret. While Sandy was always high in my priority, having fun was not always, as all young mothers would know. Now I wish I had had more time just being silly with both my babies. They are gone all of a sudden this year and the house is not the same. No barks and walks to worry about. We are still fostering a dog, thank goodness for that. But life is not the same without my two babies. I see her favourite treats that I never gave to other dogs since I cannot always find them and have to ration. I wish I was not saving them and just had given more to her when she could enjoy them. Regrets....guilt....stuff for mothers! It was early morning when she passed, but I was with her. I could not sleep and knew in my subconscious I think. She wanted me next to her and I sang her last good night song before she passed. Small consolations. While I can still not come to terms, I am glad she did not suffer long. I love you my baby........always be next to me.