WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-08

About: This is illuminating news, from my perspective, on how we lived this week, in this Earth…and in other Planets as well – beyond Earth.

Everywhere

God Bless America

The United States of America (USA) went through the motions of impeaching its most recent ex-President, as second time, but could not muster the courage to vote him guilty of instigating the 6th January 2021 Insurrection at Capitol Hill – a huge blot on America’s democracy – visible from the Red Planet. Punishing him would have set a great example and cleared the cobwebs on an ambiguous law, which loopholes helped him survive.

A two-thirds majority vote was required to convict the not-so-great ex-President and with a 50-50 tie between the Democrats and the Republicans in the Senate, the final vote count stood at 57 (convict)- 43 (acquit), which was far from the required punishment threshold. Seven Republicans showed ‘great’ guts in agreeing with the Democrats that the ex-President was guilty.

He was acquitted by the Senate and lives to get elected another ‘great’ day.

What Next? More of ‘great’ golf, until the next Elections?

Bill Gates, now a Window to Climate Change

Microsoft Founder Bill Gates is turning out to be a damn good Astrologer, opening doors, windows, and many vistas: predicting infectious disease Epidemics and Climate Change, to mention a few. Nostradamus must be pleased, from up above.

Bill Gates has written a new book, ‘How to Avoid Climate Disaster. The Solutions We Have and The Breakthroughs We Need’. It’s a guide to tackling global warming. I haven’t read it as yet, but here are some insights I plucked out from various reviews.

He says, ‘solving climate change would be the most amazing thing humanity has ever done. By comparison, ending the pandemic is very, very easy’.

Fifty-one billion, is how many tonnes of greenhouse gases the world typically adds to the atmosphere each year. Zero, is what we need to get to.

Renewable sources like wind and solar can help decarbonise electricity, but that’s less than 30% of total emissions. We are also going to have to decarbonise the other 70% of the world economy – steel, cement, transport systems, fertiliser production, and much, much more. We simply don’t have ways of doing that at the moment for many of these sectors.

Consuming less stuff – fewer flights, local food, less electricity and gas – won’t solve the problem.

He argues political action is more important, demanding Governments across the World do the right thing, and using our voices as consumers, insisting the same of Companies.

‘If you buy an electric car, a hamburger made of a meat substitute, an electric heat pump for your home you are helping increase the production of these products and therefore helping drive prices down’.

There’s no doubt that the next best thing to destroying the human race – other than an epidemic – is the effects of climate change. It’s the Elephant in the Room that many haven’t noticed and those who did are trumpeting for immediate action. If we can find a Vaccine for a nano-virus, I’m sure we can herd Elephants out of the room, back into the lush green forests. I agree with Bill Gates, it’s hard to push an Elephant.

Sleepless in Texas – Shivering and Freezing too

Did Bill Gates predict this one?

Texas State in the USA is known for its sprawling deserts and intense heat waves, but, right now it is hiding under a thin layer of ice. Unbelievable?

Texas is in the grip of unprecedented freezing temperatures as a brutally cold, historic winter storm ravaged it, bringing snow, sleet, and freezing rain in its wake. Temperatures touched down to (- )39 Degree Centigrade in many cities.

The frigid cold, crippled giant wind turbines (an important source of electricity in the State), froze and paralysed vital equipment at gas wells, the natural gas system, and in the nuclear industry. Pipes froze and burst across the State.

The primary sources of energy in Texas – natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind and solar – have been affected by the cold and ice causing blackouts and ruinous power outages. The Power Supply Grid was overwhelmed and several parts were left without power, for basic chores.

Homes in Texas are not normally insulated for cold water, resulting in indoor temperatures quickly dropping to freezing point after heating systems failed.

Texas is the only state of the USA with an independent power grid, meaning it depends entirely on its own electricity supply means. In hindsight, it was a lurking disaster waiting to happen, and they should have had a means for connecting with the Grid of another State – at least for emergency power. How can you afford to ‘live off the Grid’ for so long a period?

India, for eg., has a National Electricity Grid – One Nation, One Grid – and power can flow from the top of the Country to the bottom and across, from the left to the right, in a seamless manner, delivering power to Consumers, anywhere in the country. India achieved this electrifying feat in the year 2014.

What caused the freeze? The US National Weather Service says that this is due to an ‘Arctic Outbreak’ that originated just above the US-Canada Border bringing winter storm and plummeting temperatures. Cold air outbreaks such as these are normally kept contained with the Arctic Zone, by a series of low-pressure systems. However, this one moved through Canada and spilled out in to the US. And it has touched down far South into Texas. Amazing reach!

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) – Starting to Trade

The WTO is the only global international organisation dealing with rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensue that trade flows smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible. It has 164 nations as its members.

This week, WTO finally got its trading biases right – after years of trading with males in the lead it has made the shift to females. On Monday, it appointed Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the first female and first African head of the WTO. This is a first in the 73 years of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and WTO.

Okonjo-Iweala will take up her job on 1st March 2021 and her term, which is renewable, will run up to 31st August, 2025.

One of the selectors said of her, ‘She was not chosen because she is female or because she is from Africa, but because she stood out as the candidate with the best qualifications, experience and qualities for the daunting task’. That’s well said. I just do not like making everything a male-female issue and would trade it for expertise and quality.

The Geneva-based WTO has been leaderless since Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo stepped down last August, a year ahead of schedule. The WTO appoints its leaders through a consensus-finding process, but former US President Donald Trump’s administration stood alone in blocking the consensus around Okonjo-Iweala.

Okonjo-Iweala takes over a beleaguered WTO when it is facing a slew of challenges that have hobbled it in recent years, including how to best manage the increased friction between economic superpowers the USA and China. Critics of the WTO said it has failed to intervene over some of China’s most egregious economic offenses, which in turn has let the USA name its economic adversary a currency manipulator and impose or threaten billions of dollars in tariffs on goods from China.

Okonjo-Iweala is seen as a trailblazer in her homeland. She was twice Nigeria’s finance minister and its first female foreign minister in a two-month stint. A development economist by training with degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Okonjo-Iweala has also had a 25-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, eventually becoming its number two. She has portrayed herself as a champion against Nigeria’s rampant corruption-revealing that her own mother was even kidnapped over her attempts to tackle the scourge. Okonjo-Iweala is married to Ikemba Iweala, a neurosurgeon. They have four children, including author Uzodinma Iweala who wrote, ‘Beasts of No Nation’ (adapted as an award winning film) and ‘Speak No Evil’.

I’m sure the WTO can build strong trade bridges and Okonjo-Iweala has already warned about Vaccine Nationalism, during the current pandemic, ‘a phenomenon where rich countries are vaccinating their populations and poor countries have to wait’.

Toolkits: Vocabulary Building

There is a new word ploughing around Town and it goes by the name of Toolkit.

A Tookit is a collection of documents that contain basic information on an issue, adaptable resources, and campaigning tips, such as tweet suggestions, hashtags, who to tag on social media, how to sign online petitions, etc., so that one can spread the word easily (on a issue) and build-up a momentum of social-media opinion, which could ultimately ignite physical action in terms of sloganeering or for & against rallies – peaceful or otherwise.

Most of us in India learnt about it when overseas Celebrities and Activists began tweeting in support of the Farmer Protests protesting the Farm Reforms – laws enacted by India’s elected Government following due process of walking it through Parliament. Obviously the ‘hand of Toolkit’ was visible in their actions. This lead to inland celebrities fighting back with their own tweets against outside interference. Meanwhile, someone who edited one of these Toolkits, said to have been first prepared by anti-India Forces, was caught and the Police are using all the tools in their kit to find out what’s happening. And now you have a full-blown social media tool war and attempts to unravel a ‘plot against the nation’.

I’m glad that the younger generation is coming out with guns blazing on issues confronting the World. I’m sure they want to add perspective and get in to the thick of things. But they need to be mighty careful on who they are dealing with. Reminds me of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Going to see grandma with sweets and biscuits is ‘very caring’. Beware of the Wolves, lurking in the bushes – and using toolkits for directions!

By all accounts the Farm Laws are very progressive, passed through an elected Parliament, and made into law. These reforms have been in the air for more than a decade and most of the Political Parties opposing them have sometime earlier supported the reforms now actually made into Law. Any changes should be made only through Parliament. Meanwhile it is best to try them out and I’m sure any shortcomings can be corrected by elected legislators. When it is time to vote, the overseas celebrities are welcome to vote, if the can.

Space: USA’s NASA lands on the Red Planet, Mars

On 18th February 2021, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Perseverance Rover, weighing about a ton, landed, without incident, on Mars on a spot that has never-before been attempted by NASA – the Jezero Crater.

Perseverance is NASA’s ninth landing on Mars and its fifth Rover. And it had to go through the infamous ‘seven minutes of terror’ to land on Mars. The one-way time it takes for radio signals to travel from Earth to Mars is eleven minutes which means the seven minutes it takes to land on Mars occurs without any help or intervention from the NASA Control Centre, on Earth.

The Spacecraft reached the Martian atmosphere at a speed of 12,000 miles per hour and had to slow down to 1.7 miles per hour, seven minutes later, when the Rover landed. The spacecraft’s heat shield endured a peak heating of about 1300 Degrees Centigrade.

Perseverance has been on nearly a 472 million kilometre journey to get here since leaving Earth about 203 days ago (30th July 2020). It will explore the crater and search for signs of ancient microbial life, and collect samples for future missions over an expected life of two years.

There is a helicopter called ‘Ingenuity’ attached to the belly of the Rover and over a process of ten days the Rover will drop Ingenuity and roll away from it. After Ingenuity ‘finds its bearings’, settles down to the world of Mars and charges its solar panels, it will be ready for its first flight, which is expected to last about 20 seconds. This will be the first ever helicopter flight on another Planet and I’m sure the Wright Brothers must be looking down from Heaven, fingers-crossed.

Going back in time, the first Flyby of Mars happened on 15th July 1965, by NASA’s Mariner-4 and on 14 November 1971, Mariner-9 became the first space probe to orbit another planet. The first successful landing on Mars came on 20th July 1976 when NASA’s Viking-1 touched down in a spot named Chris Plantia – The Plains of Golf.

India’s, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) succeeded in its very first attempt to orbit Mars, with the launch of Mangalyaan, on 5th November 2013. And the space probe has been in orbit since 24th September 2014. Though ISRO planned a six-month life for Mangalyaan, it has exceeded expectations completing more than five years – and is still in a ‘circle of love with Mars’.

Surely, we need lots of perseverance to move ahead in life. While Perseverance used every ounce of it to reach Mars to try unlocking mysteries on the origin of life, those living in Texas, on Earth, will need all the perseverance and the ingenuity, they can muster to stay warm and alive.

Life in Antarctica, 3000 Feet Under

Scientists have found life buried deep under about 3,000 feet of ice in Antarctica, challenging the assumption that nothing could live in such conditions. It was thought that Antarctica’s frigid temperatures made it impossible for living creatures to thrive in these extreme locations, because they are so far from sunlight and any obvious source of food.

The strange living creatures were found attached to a boulder in the Arctic seas under an ice shelf. Experts from the British Antarctic Survey drilled through 2,860 feet of ice before making the discovery.

A collection of stationary animals, sponges and potentially several previously unknown species, were among the discoveries.

One of the Researchers explained, “If they are living somewhere as tough as this, they are probably specially adapted to being there. There is a good chance they might go weeks, months and years without food — you have to be pretty hard to cope with that.”

Sports

Australian Open in the Melbourne Park, Down Under

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic became just the second man in history to reach 300 Grand Slam wins with a fluent win over Canada’s Milos Raonic in the fourth round of the Australian Open. He whipped the big-hitting Raonic, in four sets, in just under three hours. On Thursday he beat Russian Aslan Karatsev to reach the finals.

Up ahead of Djokovic, in Grand Slam wins, is Switzerland’s Roger Federer – I miss him – the only man to previously reach the 300 win mark at Grand Slams, now sitting on a pedestal of 362 wins. Rafael Nadal is third, with 285 wins. And he is out of the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Naomi Osaka beat America’s Serena Williams to set up a Women’s Finals clash with American Jennifer Brady – happening this Saturday.

The Men’s Finals will be on Sunday, 21st February…and Novak Djokovic has never lost an Australian Open Final. Worth a watch!

Test Cricket

England’s Cricket Team is touring India at the moment and India got whacked by England in the first test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, losing by 227 runs.

India came back strongly in the second test, also in Chennai, to wallop England by one of the biggest ever wins, beating them by 317 runs, levelling the four match Test Series. India was lying under a heap of a losing streak of Test Series under ‘new Father’ Virat Kohli’s captaincy and this win has put a stop to that. Kiss the baby? Ravichandran Ashwin scored a total of 119 runs and picked up eight wickets turning into a kingpin of India’s win.

The next two Tests are slated to be held at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad, 24the February to 28th February and 4th March to 8th March 2021.

India requires ‘Iron Wins’ in the Sardar Patel Stadium to weld the Test Series into a strong performance and qualify for the World Test Championships.

COVID-19, the Pandemic

New Zealand’s Fight

I have read and clapped my hands with joy on New Zealand’s superb handling of the coronavirus pandemic, going for months without reports of new infections. With a population of about 5 million it recorded just over 2,300 cases of COVID-19 and 25 deaths.

The country closed its borders to people coming-in or going-out, early on in the pandemic, aiming to keep-out the virus. It maintains a tight vigil on the borders to make it a rock-solid buttress against the nano-invader. And it is succeeding.

However, this week Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ordered the country’s biggest city, Auckland, to go into lockdown after the discovery of three new local COVID-19 cases. One of the cases was traced to the laundry department of an airline catering facility and with the obvious border connection, New Zealand is looking for holes to seal.

Three is definitely a small number but the country’s action is big and putting a mighty effort with the goal of stamping-out the virus. Keep it up New Zealand! Until the vaccines arrive, in many shots, we have no other option but to keep injecting ourselves with lockdowns?

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is still fishing in the troubled waters of Wuhan, China, to pin-down the source of the pandemic, but China keeps muddying the waters and is not supplying enough bait, leave alone fishing rods.

Vaccination Tracking

The speed of vaccination, to overturn the pandemic, is improving, but we need to jab faster. More than 199 million doses have been administered across 87 countries, i.e., roughly 6.50 million doses per day.

Israel is an outlier, with 79 doses given per 100 people. About 47% of the population has received at least one shot and 31.8% are fully vaccinated.

India has administered about 1.07 crore doses till date, at 0.76 doses per 100.

To provide a perspective, at current vaccination rates the prediction is that India will be fully covered by late 2022. And Israel, the USA, the UK, and much of Europe will be fully covered by the end of this year 2021.

India has seen a steady reduction in coronavirus infection cases across the States, but recently the States of Maharashtra and Kerala have seen a rising trend, which is a case of concern. This is not over and let’s stick to the basics of prevention dynamics until the Science and the Experts declare we are safe.

Please Yourself

I’m a die-hard fan of Hollywood’s Tom Hanks and this weekend I’ve scheduled myself to watch ‘News of the World’, on Netflix.

I’ll be back with more news of the world…and we have that helicopter waiting to take us on flight, in Mars!

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-07

About: This is the news ‘boxed in the ring’ this week, in our World. And it’s a week loaded with looks. Look inside.

Everywhere

Everywhere I see lots of unrest and turmoil. Humans are perhaps becoming impatient and trying to grow in various dimensions at the same time. Is it the age of impunity? It seems to be spreading and non-accountability is going viral. Authoritarianism is the new normal. According to the latest, The Economist Survey, only 8.4% of the world’s population live in a fully functioning democracy, while more than a third live under authoritarian rule – and it is getting worse. Look at Russia’s Putin – the Underpants Poisoner, look at Myanmar – the House Arrestor, look at Afghanistan – the Home of Taliban, look at the oldest of them all, North Korea – the Lost Kingdom. Look at China, where the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been banned this week over said to be spreading ‘fake news’, look at various African Regimes, and look at the Desert Countries. Why, look at what happened in America’s Capitol Hill, the trial of the second impeachment of the ex-President is underway. And we are looking to colonise the Moon! Somebody must be waiting for us, over there, with a lasso?

Once in a while, some fresh breezes do blow especially in deserts, maybe a fragrance. I talked about Saudi Arabia’s Activist Loujain al-Hathloul, in World Inthavaaram, 2020-45

https://kumargovindan.wordpress.com/2020/11/07/world-inthavaaram-2020-45/

This week she was finally freed, after spending 1,000 days in jail. Welcome back, hope to see her driving soon – she was responsible for women in Saudi Arabia being given the steering wheel, to drive a car! Something anywhere in the world women would take for granted.

Going back to Afghanistan, I liked this quote by Afghanistan Vice President Saleh, ‘We welcome the decision of the Biden administration to review US policy on Afghanistan with wide eyes and open ears.

Wow, we ought to look at this World this week, with wide eyes and open ears. And closed mouths?

Boxing Champions

Remember Boxing Champion Leon Spinks? He died last Friday, aged 67, in Las Vegas, USA. He beat the great Mohammad Ali in a stunning split-decision verdict to win the undisputed Boxing Heavyweight Title, in a 15 round fight, in 1978, at the age of 25. After the win, he famously said, “I’m not the greatest, just the latest.” Of course, later, the greatest beat the latest, again – Mohammad Ali beat Spinks in a rematch.

Spinks won the light heavyweight division gold at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. His brother, Michael Spinks, who would later become heavyweight champion himself, won the middleweight gold.

I can recall Leon Spinks with that big grin, often showing off his gap-front teeth. He had an easygoing personality, with a ‘well-developed, muscular’ drinking habit, and naturally, drank all his earnings. And for a time after retirement, cleaned locker rooms in YMCA, Nebraska.

Leon Spinks had been married thrice. He married his current wife, Brenda Glur, in 2011. He lived in Las Vegas and had three sons – one shot to death in 1990 and another son, Cory, becoming a Boxing Champion.

Spinks was part of a group of ex-fighters who had their brains studied for Brain Health. And was found to have brain damage and shrinkage, caused by a combination of taking punches to the head and heavy drinking.

’Boxing, and Drinking is a dangerous combination – inside the ring, and outside the ring!

Sighting an Outbreak: Dr. Li Wenliang

While we are surely climbing out of the coronavirus epidemic – at least in India – that locked down our lives, physically distanced, and masked us over the past one year, there’s one person we should remember and be ever thankful to: Dr. Li Wenliang, an eye doctor working at a hospital in Wuhan, Central China, where the first case of the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was detected at the end of the year 2019. Did he have a special sight, I wonder?

Right now there is a United Nations team ‘looking around’ the Wuhan area trying to find out how it all began.

Dr. Li was the first to raise the alarm on the outbreak and had tried to warn fellow medics of a disease that looked like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which is another deadly coronavirus. But he was told by the Police to stop making false comments and was even investigated for spreading rumours. Eventually, Dr. Li himself succumbed to COVID-19 on 7th February 2019, after contracting it while treating patients in Wuhan. And this week we are at his first death Anniversary. A year gone by looking-out for the virus.

Dr. Li’s death prompted a rare wave of grief and public anger over the Chinese Government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak – downplaying the severity and concealing the extent of its spread. Later, in another rare instance, the Chinese Government, looked, listened, felt the anger, exonerated and honoured Dr. Li as a hero.

Public anger over a ‘clearly visible poor sight’ by the Government can always make corrections happen. And we should always be on the look-out of vital-signs of a disease outbreak – never take a myopic view of infectious diseases. Long sight is the answer. Lesson to learn. Looking helps!

The Glaciers Are Coming

Over many years, we’ve been hearing about the possible effects of Antarctica Glaciers melting, and raising sea levels. Without having to go that far, this week near Chamoli, in the North Indian State of Uttarakhand Himalayan Glaciers broke away from the bonding forces of nature – maybe due to mankind’s climate change needling – named itself a deluge, became a devastating avalanche of water. It bursted into the nearest valley river stream, effortlessly smashing its way through a hydro-electric Dam, flooding villages and small Towns, downstream. Dozens of people are missing and many feared dead.

The exact cause of the ‘burst’ is unclear and Scientists are trying to ascertain what triggered the Glacier to break-away. A 2019 study found that Himalayan Glaciers are melting twice as fast as the last century, losing almost half a metre of ice each year.

However small, our actions do influence something large somewhere in the world? Here we are talking about Glaciers and Avalanches.

India’s Prime Minister (PM): when he speaks you better listen.

India’s Parliament Houses, the Upper, Rajya Sabha and the Lower, Lok Sabha witnessed one of the best performances by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made lucid and absolutely stirring speeches.

In the Rajya Sabha he defended the Government’s progressive Policies and clearly explained the Farm Laws to dissuade Farmers from continuing with their Protests of the past two months. He also shed tears for an outgoing Opposition Member, who was retiring, praising his work done over the many years of slogging in Parliament.

In the Lok Sabha, replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Speech, he pitched for the private sector asserting that the culture of abusing it for votes is no longer acceptable. If the public sector is important the private sector is vital. I liked him using the word ‘Wealth Creators’, who he said are required to redistribute wealth among the poor. What can be achieved by handing over the nation to the ‘babus’ (Government Officials)?

I read this on Twitter and it pretty much sums it up, ’In our country a young man of 25 years of age gets more respect and recognition, just because he has got into IAS (Indian Administrative Service) or IPS (Indian Police Service), than a 60 years old Entrepreneur, who has created wealth of crores along with hundreds of jobs. This needs to change’. I am a nearing 60 Entrepreneur and you need to start looking-up at me. The PM just made me look majestic!

When the PM is at his convincing and talking best, there is none to equal him. No wonder the Opposition walked out to avoid being burnt and fried in the Parliament dish.

Kanaka Raju’s Gussadi Dance

The Padma Awards are one of India’s highest civilian honours, announced annually, every January, on the eve of India’s Republic Day. The Awards are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan – for exceptional and distinguished service, Padma Bhushan – for distinguished service of higher order, and Padma Shri – for distinguished service. The intent of the awards it to recognize achievements in all fields of activities where an element of public service is involved.

The Padma Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year. The nomination process is open to the public. And self-nomination can also be made.

This year, a not-much heard of person, a Senior Citizen, an Adivasi from the Gond Tribe of Marlavai Village of Telangana’s Kumarambheem-Asifabad District, Kanaka Raju was awarded the Padma Shri. He won the award for his efforts to popularise the dying art, Gussadi, an ethnic tribal dance form of the Raj Gonds from the Telangana-Maharashtra border.

The Gussadi dance is performed during the harvesting season when Gonds wear a Gussadi Topi – a large header made of many peacock feathers, locally known as Mal Boora – and animal skin tied around their waists.

The 63 years old Kanaka Raju struggles to make ends meet, living in a thatched house with his eleven member family, relying on his 6 acre land for a livelihood. He teaches dance to the local children, who pay a small honorarium. To supplement his income, he works as a cook, on a daily wages basis, in a tribal welfare hostel in the village.

Kanaka Raju has said that while he is extremely happy to have won the award, he would be happier if shelter and food could be arranged for the rest of his life. For such an art form to survive, the artist has to survive. As simple as that!

With the Padma Shri Award, the Government has surely noticed Kanaka Raju, and I’m sure they are listening to his plight. I hope they dance to his tunes to keep him alive so that Gussadi dance lingers in our minds and hearts for years to come. There are many other dying arts around there India which need to fished out and stored in our tanks of knowledge.

Miss India for Miss World

We need to set our beauty sights on the Miss World Pageant to be held in December 2021 where India’s Manasa Varanasi from Telangana’s Hyderabad, will showing us all the beauty within and about her, in trying to win the Miss World Title. On 10th February, the 23 years old Financial Information Exchange Analyst was crowned Miss India 2020.

It’s been a long time since India won a Miss World Title. The last was in 2017 by Manushi Chhillar and before that, in 2000, by Priyanka Chopra, 1999-Yukta Mookhey, 1997-Diana Hayden. Aishwarya Rai won the title in 1994. This was 28 years after Reita Faria became the first-ever Indian to win an International Beauty Title, way back in 1996.

India surely misses the Miss World Title. Bring it Home, Miss Manasa.

The Nano of Reptiles

Talking of small things, Scientists believe they may have discovered the smallest reptile on Earth, a male Brookesia Nana, or nano-chameleon, in the montane rainforest region of Northern Madagascar.

The chameleon subspecies reptile is about the size of a seed with a top-to-tail length of just 22 millimetre (mm); the body alone is just 13.5mm. While the males are so awfully tiny, the females are only slightly bigger at 29mm.

You mention the word ‘Reptile’, and what springs to mind is something huge, which can make you feel nano size. Well, now it’s the other way around. The growth of mankind?

Scientists are in huge demand these days, across boundaries and of various colours. And in these times, everything appears to be at a ‘nano-level’! Hollywood Director Steven Spielberg’s next movie might well be ‘Nano-Jurassic Park – minus 1’.

Australian Open Opens – the 109th Edition

After being COVID-19 postponed many times Tennis’s first Grand Slam of the year, The Australian Open finally got started this Monday at the Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and the balls started flying over the net, on to the net while all the time trying to stay inside marked lines.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is a clear favourite having won a record eight times at the Melbourne Park grounds. France’s Dominic Thiem, the reigning US Open Champion and a last year’s losing finalist at the Australian Open will be playing to open his account at this ground. Spain’s Rafael Nadal is also playing, eyeing his 21st Grand Slam. Meanwhile, ace veteran Switzerland’s Roger Federer, is recovering from knee surgery and should be watching from home, caressing his knees.

Among the Ladies, World No.1 and home favourite Ashleigh Barty hopes to serve and make a return. American Serena Williams will be wearing a one-legged, Nike made catsuit, purring for her 24th Grand Slam Title, while defending champion, also American, Sofia Kenin, and the current leading lady of Tennis, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, are the other top players hoping to ace here.

At the time of publishing World Inthavaarm 2021-07, Sofia Kenin’s bid to defend her title ended in disappointment on Thursday, after she was knocked out of the tournament by world No. 65, Kaia Kanepi, of Estonia. She lost 6-3, 6-2 in straight sets in over an hour and drowned herself in tears. Blame the pandemic?

Speeding-Up COVID-19 Vaccinations

Carrying-on from the previous weeks, more than 168 million doses have been shot across 77 countries, i.e., roughly 5.84 million doses per day.

Israel continues to ruthlessly dominate with 68 doses given per 100 people. About 41.8% of the population has received at least one shot and 26.7% are fully vaccinated. That’s amazing, look at what a small country can do?

India has administered about 7.5 million doses till date, at 0.55 doses per 100. But India has not been stingy, sending out its vaccine production to many other countries as well.

Please Yourself, e-bikes.

I saw this coming and was wondering why e-bikes weren’t happening in Tamilnadu. Finally, somebody heard me.

This Wednesday, a company called Pi Beam, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Chennai-incubated startup launched an electric two-wheeler called PiMo, that can charge faster than a smartphone and can run 50 kilometres until the next charge.

Priced at Rs 30,000 it comes with battery swapping features and a top speed of 25 kilometres per hour (km/hr). Owning this two-wheeler doesn’t require registration or a driving licence. Pi Beam hopes to sell about 10,000 two-wheelers by end March 2021.

I wish they had given it a more dashing name.

That reminds of Ather an electric Scooter which also got its spark and wheels from IIT Chennai, and has been launched in eleven cities across India. Chennai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Kochi, Hyderabad, to mention a few.

The Ather is priced at over Rs 1 lakh and has a top speed to 80km/hr, and requires a driving licence.

The future indeed looks electric. I promised a lot of ‘looking’ this week. Hope you looked and noticed! More coming up.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-06

About: This is the news cooked this week, in our World. I’ve dug out some old dishes and flavoured it with present day spices.

Well Said

“There should be no boundaries to human endeavour. We are all different. However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” – Stephen Hawking, The Theory of Everything

Everywhere

Oh Myanmar, The Military, Suui Kyi, and the Rohingya!

I can clearly recall the many times a proud House Owner, on showing-off his newly built house, would proclaim on touching wood, ‘that’s made from original Burma Teak’. I heard the sound!

Teak grows throughout much of Burma and due to its natural water resistance is sought out for a variety of uses, especially furniture-making and shipbuilding. And it is an important part of Burma’s economy.

Burma was renamed as Myanmar in 1989 by the then ruling Military Government. Both names can be traced to the majority ‘Bamar’ ethnic group living in the region. Some say the names are derived from ‘Brahma Desha’, after Lord Brahma (one of the Hindu Trinity Gods).

Myanmar has a population of about 54 million. The biggest city is Yangon (Rangoon) and the capital is Nay Pyi Taw. The main religion is Buddhism.

These days, Myanmar is in the news for reasons other than its trustworthy hard teak. Let’s do a flashback.

Myanmar gained independence from the British (who else was a better coloniser?) on 4th January 1948 largely due to the efforts of Aung Sung who founded the Myanmar Armed Forces and headed the Transition to the country’s Independence. He is considered the Father of the Nation, of modern-day Myanmar. Unfortunately, he was assassinated just six months before Myanmar officially gained its independence. His surviving children are, a daughter, Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was two years old at the time of his death, and a son, Aung San Oo, now an US citizen and estranged from his famous sister.

Following Aung Sung’s assassination, his colleague, U Nu, took over as Burma’s first Prime Minister. And the wife of Aung Sung was appointed the Burmese Ambassador to India, which led to Aung San Suu Kyi studying in the Convent of Jesus & Mary School, New Delhi, and graduating from Delhi University’s Lady Sri Ram College. She married a British historian Dr Michael Ari who later died of cancer in 1999.

In March 1962 the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d’état following internal ethnic strife and civilian unrest. And the government has been in direct or indirect military control ever since.

Entering active politics, Suu Kyi formed and headed the democratic, National League for Democracy (NLD) Party during the uprising of 8th August 1988 (called the 8888 uprising) in the country. In all the instances – mostly on international pressure – when the military woke up and allowed General Elections, and when Suu Kyi’s NLD participated, it invariably swept the Elections, often winning in a landslide. And also invariably the military government would ignore the election results, refuse to hand over power and instead detain Suu Kyi and place her under house arrest. She spent a total of 15 of the 21 years from 1989 to 2010 in this manner of a cat & mouse game until the time of her final release from ‘house arrest’ on 13th November 2010.

In between all of this, she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for, ‘her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights’. And for ‘being involved in the second struggle for national independence employing non-violent means to resist a regime characterised by brutality’. The Nobel Committee as also said that Suu Kyi ‘emphasizes the need for conciliation between the sharply divided regions and ethnic groups in her country’.

In the General elections of November 2015 Suu Kyi led the NLD to yet another landslide victory in Myanmar’s first openly contested election of 25 years.

Meanwhile, the clever Army Generals, had made statute changes, and were prepared to gun her down with new Laws. Under the current Constitution, which came into effect from 2008, she was barred from becoming President, being the widow of a foreigner (her husband was British) and the mother of foreigners (her two children are not citizens of Myanmar ). A post called ‘State Counsellor’, akin to Prime Minister, was created for her, alongside the President, from the NLD.

But since becoming Myanmar’s State Counsellor, her leadership has been defined by the treatment of the country’s mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

In 2017 hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to the neighbouring Bangladesh due to an Army crackdown sparked by deadly attacks on police stations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

The Rohingya, who numbered around one million at the start of 2017, are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country. Rohingya Muslims represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state. They have their own language and culture and are said to be descendants of Arab traders and other groups who have lived in the region for generations.

But the government of Myanmar, predominantly Buddhist, has denied the Rohingya citizenship and even excluded them from the 2014 census, refusing to recognise them as a people. It sees them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Since the 1970s, Rohingya have migrated across the region in significant numbers.

In the last few years, thousands of Rohingya made perilous journeys out of Myanmar to escape communal violence or alleged abuses by the armed forces.

The exodus began on 25th August 2017 after Rohingya Arsa militants launched deadly attacks on more than 30 police posts. Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh said they fled after troops, backed by local Buddhist mobs, burnt their villages and attacked and killed civilians. At least 6,700 Rohingya, including about 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the month after the violence broke out. And – according to reports – the Myanmar military raped and abused Rohingya women.

Suu Kyi’s is accused her of doing nothing to stop the mayhem, possible genocide, or ethnic cleansing, by refusing to condemn the powerful military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities. The Nobel Peace Prize hung upon her. Maybe, she was a pragmatic politician, trying to govern a multi-ethnic country with a complex history and trying to find an opportune moment to shoot the goal she wanted, playing ball with the military? Could be that the military did the Rohingya Act to besmirch Suu Kyi and show that a civilian government cannot rule? I wish I knew, only time will tell. I would place my trust in Suu Kyi – she having endured so much.

Her personal defence of the Army’s actions at the International Court of Justice hearing in 2019 in the Hague was seen as a new turning point that obliterated what little remained of her international reputation.

At home, however, ‘the Lady’, as Suu Kyi is known, remains hugely popular among the Buddhist majority who hold little sympathy for the Rohingya.

Trooping over to the present, in the General Elections of 8th November 2020, the NLD again won by a landslide securing 83% of available seats in what many saw as a referendum on Suu Kyi’s civilian government. It was just the second election since the end of military rule in 2011.

But the military, true to its nature, has disputed the result, filing complaints at the Supreme Court against the President and the Chair of the Electoral Commission demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud. The Election Commission, in turn, has said there was no evidence to support the claims.

The New Parliament was set to convene on 1st February 2021 to acknowledge the Elections, swear-in new members and open-up for business, when yet another coup was staged by the military. And power was handed over to the Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing. Back to Military Rule. Here we are.

Suui Kyi is again under House Arrest and several charges have been filed against her such as, breaching import and export laws and possessing unlawful communication devices – aka walkie talkies!

Fascinating to learn that this is happening right next-door and there is nothing much we can do about it. What next? Another round of Elections? Another round of House Arrests? Another merry-go-round? And a timeless drift for Myanmar to become the seasoned wood of a Burma Teak?

I think the United Nations and all right-thinking Nations ought to put some sense into the Army Generals and fire them to return to their barracks; live and let live.

Russia

Meanwhile, last week’s Person in the Russian News, Opposition Leader, Alexei Navalny, was handed a three years jail sentence, by the Courts, on parole violations; charges which appear specially cooked-up and politically motivated. As more pro-Navalny protesters across more than ten cities were detained many Western Nations including the US, Germany, and France condemned the violence against the protestors and called for Navalny’s immediate release.

Changes in Russia do not happen quickly or easily. However, Alexei Navalny has at best galvanised a movement, and the direction it takes will be worth a watch over the coming months… and years.

It’s an uphill task fighting for a cause and finding the momentum. Someone in some part of the world is fighting for Freedom. And it always comes at a price?

India’s Promised ‘Never Before Budget’?

It was a fantastic effort in book-keeping and was neatly written on a foundation of six defined pillars: health & well being, physical & financial capital & infrastructure, inclusive development, human Capital, Innovation and R&D, and Minimum Govt & Maximum Governance. And read out from a paperless ‘made in India’ Tablet. Wow! However, it presses the growth accelerator after a pandemic year of continuously topping up the fuel tank and guzzling fuel – running the engine standstill at seemingly endless red signals and not covering ground. The Government is still spending more than it earns – this is estimated as 9.5% for this year and 6.8% for the next.

Broadly, the Government is tirelessly focussing on infrastructure: roads, airports, ports, urban transportation, power, etc., ‘creating assets to catalyse future growth’- as someone put it aptly. Also targeting to sell off inefficient Public Sector Companies to realise money for its various operations. And creating a ‘Bad Bank’ – a Sink for non-performing assets, which can be cleaned up by selling the collected dirt that has some value. All this is happening keeping the sights on much needed healthcare – for the wellness of the nation, and education – hoping it leads to greater wisdom. There are plans to set up a National Language Translation Mission (NLTM) to enable the wealth of governance, policy information, and knowledge on the internet being made available in major Indian languages, so that people can understand each other better in addition to what’s happening around the world. Namaste – Vanakkam.

Having been stirred and shaken in battling the coronavirus pandemic, the Government has pledged to fund four new National Virology Institutes, nine new High-Containment Laboratories for studies on highly infectious pathogens and a National Institution for ‘One Health’ to coordinate research and surveillance on animal and human infections. Viruses living on Bats & Friends beware, India will hunt you down.

Meanwhile, the citizen has not been loaded with any new taxes and tax compliance has been encouraged with easing of some complex rules. In a first, Income Tax has been done away for pension & interest dependant Senior Citizens over 75 years old (No Time To Die?)With the average Indian Life expectancy near about 71 years, I wish the Government had climbed down to 65years to keep us alive. I’m hitting sixty next year and wish the cool definition of senior citizen – 60 plus – is lent real meaning. Proud to be a Senior Citizen, I must say?

Growing COVID-19 Vaccinations

More than 119 million doses have been administered across 67 countries, averaging 4.54 million doses a day.

India has vaccinated near about 5 million people (Source: Ministry of Health), about 0.33 doses per 100 people, and it’s an awfully long drive to reach the ’70% to 75% vaccinated’ herd-immunity milestone.

I continue my story on the vaccination effort in Israel, which is by far the first country where vaccinations are starting to curb the pandemic and experts claim with caution, ‘the magic has started’.

Israel has been able to rapidly rollout its vaccination drive due to a well-laid out healthcare system that requires every citizen to be a member of one of four non-profit, Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)s, which collectively operate clinics throughout the country. A resident connects with his HMO to make appointments, manage prescriptions, and get test results.

Having secured vaccine supplies from both Pfizer and Moderna, Israel was able to use this solid healthcare infrastructure to push ahead with vaccination faster than any other country. The HMOs send alerts to all people over 60 years old, to say they are eligible, and outlines who could self-book via Phone, Website or App. At the vaccine centre – ranging from stadiums to drive-throughs – A nurse confirms the medical history including allergies on an iPad in less than 30 seconds to clear the person for a jab. People can book an appointment for the second dose while waiting for the first.

As of Friday, Israel had given roughly 59 shots per 100 people in the country, while the United Kingdom has given 16 doses per 100, and United States, almost 11.

New Vaccines such as Johnson & Johnson’s one shot Vaccine are expected to reach our arms in the coming weeks and months, and it would surely accelerate the vaccination drive. Get that arm ready!

Please Yourself

A Steven Spielberg movie is always a delight to watch. Who can forget the dramatic jaw-dropping scenes of the 1975 movie, Jaws? We never get to see the deadly shark until about half-time into the movie, where the music, the sound effects, and the images do all the talking. Isn’t that what a motion picture should do?

This week, I finally got to see the ‘greatest war movie ever made, one of the finest movies of our time, nominated for eleven Academy Awards and winning five, including Best Director for Steven Spielberg’s 1998 movie, Saving Private Ryan.

This is the story of eight marines tasked with saving the life of an ordinary solider, Private James Ryan, who no one knew before, and bringing him back home, safely from behind enemy lines. This is because Private Ryan lost three brothers, killed in the same war he was fighting. And his mother was to receive three telegrams, at the same time, informing their deaths and the US Army General deciding this was more than anyone could possibly bear.

The story is set in 1944 during Word War-II when American soldiers land at Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion and the opening scene presents one of the bloodiest battles of the war. I could feel the thud of the bullets, ‘hear the smell of blood’, and see the images as if I was in that battle, in a fantastic, riveting 20 minutes of the incident.

Hollywood stars, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon (Ryan) and Vin Diesel form part of the awesome cast. Watch it to see the very best of film-making and feel what war can do to human civilisations.

There’s nothing like a good song, a good book, or a good movie to inspire the best in us, isn’t it?

There’s a new story hatching every day in some part of the World. I’ll make sense of them and bring them to you every week.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-05

About: This is the bread we’ve baked this week, in our World, and I’ve cut it down for you, also adding a slice of history, on what was before us.

Everywhere

Pressure in Russia: From Russia Without Love

I’m tired of climbing hills in the US and my eyes have moved to what’s happening beyond the mountains, in Russia. Yes, it’s about Alexei Navalny, the Russian Opposition Leader who is having a very tough time out there in the awfully cold Russian winter. Arrested, jailed, poisoned, arrested, jailed. Repeat.

Navalny, a lawyer-turned-activist came out of the cold in 2008, when he began exposing high-level corruption in Russian politics through his blog. He has since spearheaded many anti-corruption rallies, is considered to be the face of the Opposition in Russia, and has been arrested numerous times. He was barred from challenging current President, Vladimir Putin, in the 2018 Presidential Elections because of a previous conviction for fraud in a criminal case said to be politically motivated. The conviction was overturned by Russia’s Supreme Court, but he was found guilty in a re-trial, which earned criticism from the European Court of Human Rights.

Russia is known to eliminate dissidents and political activists by poisoning them, and Navalny too had a taste of this when in August 2020 he was poisoned with the soviet-era banned lethal nerve agent Novichok, which almost knocked him off. Of course, it will be hard to prove it in Russia. He managed to get himself on a plane to Germany where he was treated and recovered from the poisoning effects. And this was not the first instance: two years before, he had a bright green liquid dye sprayed upon him in Barnaul, Siberia, by an assailant who pretended to shake his hand, resulting in considerable damage to an eye.

In the current upturn of events, Navalny was arrested, on return from Germany, on the bizarre rule-break that he violated a suspended criminal sentence by remaining in Germany for further treatment after being released from Hospital – following his treatment for poisoning. The suspended sentence was from a 2014 trial termed as ‘arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable’ by the European Court of Human Rights for which Russia was ordered to pay Navalny and his brother near 76,000 Euros in compensation. Instead of finding out who poisoned the victim, Russia is running after the victim?

Now you get the picture? Having grown really big as a country and lived this long there are many Laws & Rules, but legalities don’t really matter in Russia where the rules of the game are changed and the goal posts are shifted for any curling shot to become a goal. Look at what a man fighting the system is up against!

A very tough road ahead for Navalny, and he has unstinted support coming his way, with spontaneous protests against his arrest, erupting across Russia.

Let’s delve into history to understand the ‘coldness’ of Russia and its ‘Iron Curtain’ (coined by the then British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill) calling. The explosive Russian Revolution of 1917 – actually consisting of two cataclysmic revolutions, both happening in that one year, the February Revolution, and the October Revolution, changed Russia like never before.

In the first, the last Tsarist regime, represented by the Romanov dynasty, which celebrated a spectacular three centuries in power (Peter the Great and Catherine the Great were Romanovs), was overthrown, forever ending Imperial Rule, and in the second, the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks and Red Guards led by Vladimir Lenin staged a coup and established communist rule leading to the formation of what we all knew as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Communist Party.

Nicolas-II, the last Romanov Emperor, abdicated soon after the February Revolution, and his family, Empress Alexandra, and their five children were taken prisoners. On a July night, in 1918, the family and four servants were ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were being held, on the pretext that they are to be moved to a new location for their own safety. They were told to wait while the truck meant to transport them arrived. A few minutes later an execution squad of the secret police was brought in and the order of their execution, for countless crimes on Soviet Russia, was read out.

The armed men then gunned down the imperial family in a hail of gunfire. Those who were still breathing, when the smoked cleared, were stabbed to death. The bodies were disposed off in a chaotic manner and remained undiscovered for decades leading to speculation that someone from the family might have survived and actually be alive. It is said that the royals had diamonds and jewellery secretly sewn into their corsets, which had a bullet-proof effect, resulting in bullets not making their mark.

In later years, the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their children were excavated in a forest near Yekaterinburg, in the year 1991, and positively identified two years later using DNA fingerprinting. The Crown Prince Alexei and one Romanov daughter – Anastasia– were not accounted for, fuelling the persistent legend and fantasy that Anastasia was alive and had escaped: countless stories and movies have been made on Anastasia. In subsequent years, scientists were able to confirm the deaths and the Romanov family was finally put to rest in St. Petersburg. The Crown Jewels became the property of the Soviet Union and a large portion is held in museums in the Kremlin. Given those tumultuous times, some of the fabulous jewels went missing – unable to be traced, to this day.

To further thread the story of Russia, after Lenin, it was Dictator Joseph Stalin, then Nikita Khrushchev over to Mikail Gorbachev until dissolution of the Soviet Union, on 25 December 1991. Russia then held its original name, with Boris Yeltsin as President, who hands over to Vladimir Putin – with Dmitry Medvedev stealing some years in between, due to term limits. Putin has been President since 2012 and in January 2020 modified the Russian Constitution in a way that would scrap term limits for Presidents, paving the way for him to remain President indefinitely. Sounds typical African style ruling, doesn’t it?

I’m breathless…this is the perhaps the briefest history you can get on Russia.

Back from the past to the present, Russian police have detained more than 4,000 people – and counting – in a crackdown on protests in support of the jailed Alexei Navalny. Tens of thousands of people defied a heavy police presence to join some of the largest rallies against President Vladimir Putin, in years.

Russia is one hard country to crack and President Putin, with his KGB secret service background holds the aces, the iron, the jewels, and the aggression to controlling Russia. Who can poison that? Alexei Navalny needs all the bravery and smartness he can muster to melt this iron rule.

Wonder Women of Estonia

Women leaders are rising-up in many countries and are proving to be better rulers than men – watch out! On 26 January, 43 years old Kaja Kallas was sworn as Estonia’s first female Prime Minister since Estonia ‘regained’ independence in 1991. Estonia was an independent country until it was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. On the break-up of the USSR, Estonia restored its independence on 20 August 1991, which is celebrated as ‘Day of Restoration of Independence’. For a change we have a tame ‘Restoration of Independence Day’ rather than the fiery Independence Day most Countries in the world celebrate.

Kallis leads the Reform Party which was founded by her father, Sim Kallas, who was also Prime Minister in 2002-2003. Kaja Kallis studied to become a Lawyer specialising in Estonian and European competition law, and also holds a Master of Business Administration degree in Economics. She will need every letter of her education to stay competitive and administer well.

There’s another woman in the Estonian hierarchy, with the President also being a woman, Kersti Kaljulaid. She achieved that at the age of 46. In the year 2016. That makes Estonia one of the few countries where both the head of State and head of Government are woman.

In 2018, President Kaljulaid ran the New York City Marathon, during a working tour of the United States, and finished in just over four hours.

I’m sure both Women know how to run Estonia. For a start, one is a marathon woman.

Larry King (is) Dead: the Art of Conversation Lives On

After hosting ‘Larry King Live’ on CNN for over 25 years and retiring in 2010 to host ‘Larry King Now’, the legendary American talk-show host Larry King, 87, died on 24 January at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles due to COVID-19.

Larry King had diabetes and suffered from a series of medical issues over the years including several heart attacks and a quintuple bypass surgery. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer and successfully underwent surgery to treat it. He also underwent a procedure to address angina.

Larry King married eight times (twice to the same woman) and has four children. Last year he lost two of his children who died within weeks of each other: a son of heart-attack, and a daughter of lung cancer.

King interviewed countless newsmakers and every-day people. He interviewed every sitting President from Gerald Ford to Barack Obama doing more than 30,000 interviews and listening-in to thousands of phone calls from viewers of his Call-in Show(s).

Larry King had a distinctive, unmistakable appearance in his Talk Shows: oversized spectacles and ever-present suspenders. He was known for not spending time preparing for interviews, preferring instead to let his natural curiosity guide the conversation. He read all day long and watched news which made him really well-informed. He would allow his guests to talk and then spring up the questions, with the flow. King adopted an affable easygoing demeanour and perfected a casual approach to the Question & Answer format, always leaning forward and listening intently to his guests, rarely interrupting. He treated every guest the same – Presidents, famous people, and the common man. And he loved being in front of the camera.

“I just love what I do, I love asking questions, I love doing interviews” said Larry King.

We would love him to do an interview with God and allow us a phone call to ask God a question? Rest in Peace Larry King.

COVID-19 Vaccination Updates

The biggest vaccination campaign in history is on a roll with more than 90 million doses in 62 countries have been administered, averaging 4.3 million doses a day.

Israel is on track to probably becoming the first country to achieve herd immunity (70% required) – expected in about 45 days – with about 26% of the population already vaccinated.

India has vaccinated near about 2.92 million (Source: Ministry of Health) people and the vaccination drive is gathering momentum after an initial tardiness, finding about 6 lakh arms per day. On the coronavirus infections front, India is counting about 13,000 downhill positive cases per day and Schools have been opened for Class 10 and Class 12, at least in my region. Getting back to normalcy for sure.

Nearer Home, in Attur, Tamilnadu, a good medical doctor friend of mine was one of the first to receive the Covishield Vaccine -made by the Serum Institute of India – and I’m sure she will frame the photo for the History records. I did share that photo-shoot within my Group, to inspire. And to dispel any doubts, the nay-say people might have. We should roll up our sleeves, when the time comes. We are not safe until everyone is safe.

Please Yourself

Planning to buy a car? Go Toyota, or go electric?

This week Japanese Company, Toyota drove up the ramp to wear the Global Crown of the World’s best-selling automaker. The one runner-up sash went to the German Volkswagen Group.

Toyota sold 9.5 million vehicles around the world in 2020, which includes its Daihatsu and Hino lineups. Volkswagen did 9.3 million units, which includes its brands of Audi, Skoda and Porsche.

Meanwhile, electric car-maker Tesla has set up shop in Bengaluru, India. The future is electric, and we need to keep looking out for the electrifying offers we can get to use clean energy, to clean-up the mess we made of relying on greenhouse gas-emitting petrol and diesel.

More interesting stories, coming-up, in the week(s) ahead

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-04

About: Today’s news is tomorrow’s History. This is some news of what happened this week, in our World.

Everywhere

History Has Its Eyes On US

Finally, afters weeks of playing ‘Raiders of the Capitol Hill’, President Donald Trump took a plane out of Washington to fly into the sunset. Needs to be seen whether he took that whip with him, and we would need to keep our ears ‘out-of-wax’ to listen to the sound of a whiplash, in the coming months. ‘I’ll be back’ (in some form), he said. Sounds like Terminator?

On 20 January 2021, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., all of 77, – described by ex-President Barack Obama as a Lion of American History – royally stepped into the shoes of the 46th President of the United States of America (USA), and in a first in US history, a woman – African-American, Asian-Indian, Kamala Harris, going on 57, was sworn in as Vice President (the 49th of the USA). For President Biden it was one step higher after having served as Vice President for eight years under President Barack Obama. Well-prepared and experienced for the job at hand!

Pop stars Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez offered starting company, singing their hearts out with a fiery rendition of the US National Anthem and ‘This Land is for You and Me’, respectively. Never mind some Spanish was thrown in. Singer song-writer Garth Brooks performed ‘Amazing Grace’ to amazing applause. While a young 22 years old, National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, ‘Climbed a Hill’ to say ‘History has its eyes on US’ and that we should be brave enough to see light and be it.

Now, I wish to see some climbing-up in the right directions and eyes on healing of wounds in a divided America. Light at the end of a four years old tunnel? The fashion colours of the inaugural event matched the rainbow. Singers came in white, black, red, blue; the Poet in royal yellow the new First Lady in cool blue and the Vice President in purple – marrying the red and blue. Ex-Presidents and their wives brought their colours too. Memories to keep.

Let’s raid recent history. Joe Biden lost his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, and daughter in a car accident shortly after being elected US Senator, in 1972. His wife was driving with their three children, on a Christmas Shopping trip, when their car was hit by a Tractor Trailor. Neilia and daughter, Naomi (about a year old) died in the accident while the two sons, Joseph Beau Biden and Robert Hunter Biden though severely injured, survived. In 2015 Beau Biden died after a fight with brain cancer.

In 1977 Joe Biden married Jill Tracy Jacobs, now Jill Biden. They have a daughter Ashley Blazer Biden. From all his children Joe Biden has seven grandchildren. And two German Shepard dogs, Champ and Major, to watch over the family. The White House security detail just got barked-up.

Kamala Harris is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, from Tamil Nadu, India and Donald J Harris from British Jamaica. That makes her of Jamaican-Indian descent. Mother Shamala was a biologist who worked on breast cancer at the University of California, Berkeley and received her PhD in 1964. Father Harris is a Professor emeritus of Economics at Stanford University and received his PhD in economics in 1966. Kamala’s parents divorced when she was seven.

Kamala was a trail-blazer all her life breaking many men-only glass ceilings to get this high. She graduated in Political Science and Economics from Howard University and in law from Hastings College, University of California, and was admitted to the California Bar in 1990. She has worked as District Attorney of San Francisco, and Attorney General of California before becoming US Senator from California, in 2017.

Kamala married Dough Emhoff in 2014 and is step-mother, or ‘Momala’, to Emhoff’s two children, son Cole and daughter Ella, from his previous marriage to film producer Kerstin Emhoff.

We all saw and listened. We hope for a new beginning, a seismic shift, and History being made at every turn.

Sport

Cricket

In perhaps one of the finest Test series wins by any side in cricket, India beat Australia in a fighting game of cricket making a 2-1 series score, retaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they won in Australia two years ago.

India was down on many fronts such as Captain Virat Kohli exiting the series, injuries hitting the players hard – to kick some out of the boundary, and playing in a Stadium which was one of the best hunting grounds for Australia. In the process India broke the – until now – unbeatable winning streak of the Australian cricket team at the Gabba, Brisbane Fortress, which stretched for 31 tests from 1988 to 2020.

India needed 328 runs to win on Tuesday, the final day of the four-test series, as Shubman Gill’s, 91 and Rishabh Pant’s unbeaten 89 led the chase for the touring side. Pant hit the winning runs with just three overs remaining, to inflict a first defeat on Australia at the Gabba and record the highest fourth innings run chase. India erupted in celebration and many looked at retired Test-Cricketer, Rahul David’s, mentoring the young boys, as head of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, as a rightful reason for the success. That is a tough wall to break, indeed.

I see a new young India climb-up from the battle, charged to win many wars across the sporting world, and a solid inspiration in all walks of life.

Tennis: The Australian Open

The first Tennis Grand Slam Tournament of the year, the Australian Open bounced into quarantine problems after a record 72 players arriving by different flights for the tournament to be held in Melbourne Park, Melbourne, found themselves being herded into quarantine. This, after passengers in their respective flights tested positive for COVID-19. They cannot practice and will have to rust for 14 days. Most have been allotted five hours each day to go out and train in strict bio-secure bubbles. However, the Organisers confirmed that the 8 February start date – three weeks after the original start date – will be kept, despite the contagious times.

For the moment the coronavirus is serving aces. And we need a strong return, over the nets, to keep the game going.

COVID-19 Vaccinations

Over 56.58 million vaccination doses have been administered across the world with the US needling top of the charts with about 17.55 million, quickly followed by China with 15 million. The UK comes in at a distant third with 5.4 million and then Israel with 3.29 million followed by the UAE, Italy, Germany, Russia, Turkey, Spain and India, as on 22 January 2021. From calculations, it appears that Israel will be one fo the first countries to reach the so called ‘herd immunity’ threshold, of over 70% vaccinated, in about 50 days. That sure is a milestone.

India has shot the arms of 10,43,534 (Source: Ministry of Health) people with the Vaccine, since starting the Vaccination Drive on 16 January 2021. In the first phase, India is targeting to administer the vaccine to around 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers. In the second round, people above the age of 50 will be jabbed, while those with comorbidities will be given preference. And Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to lead the charge in the second phase.

Hunting In Packs

While President Joe Biden, in his inaugural speech, called for ‘unity’ and collaboration in tackling America’s generous problems, further South of America, in the Para State of Brazil, in a lake on the Iriri River about 100 adult electric eels were getting together, to practice the art – probably connected to the American Grid – even while Biden was mirror-speaking his speech. The electric eels, a type of knife fish, were found to be cooperating with one another in rustling up a meal of fish. Electric eels are normally categorised as solitary fellows that shock and awe fish into submission.

After spending much of the day wriggling at the bottom of the lake, around dusk and dawn a gaggle off eels start swimming in circles to herd shoals of small fish into shallow waters and follow it up with a synchronised attack, simultaneously zapping their prey with powerful electric discharges, making the fish jump out of water and fall to the surface when there are quickly gobbled-up by the clever eels. Each hunt usually took about an hour and involved upto seven electric-shock attacks.

Electric eels can generate up to 600 volts of electricity – enough to kill a man. Their bodies contain electric organs with about 6000 specialised cells called electrocytes that store power like tiny batteries. When attacking (or threatened) these cells discharge simultaneously delivering that ‘knock-out punch’. Electric eels are air-breathers and must come to the surface frequently. They grow up to 2.5 meters in length and weigh about 18 kg.

Scientists were shocked to make this extraordinary discovery saying nothing like this has ever been documented in ‘electric eel History’.

Other aquatic animals that commonly hunt in groups are Orca (also called a Killer Whale), dolphins, piranha, and some kinds of sharks. The list is growing for sure. Imagine if all the mosquitoes in the neighbourhood get together for a bloody meal?

We now have our eyes on the Electric eels, as well, and need more eyes to watch other animals, least they get together, on land and water, and come after us. We live in a fascinating world of still life…and sudden death!

If there is one lesson we can learn from the eels, it is that if we stick together we can achieve a whole lot of things, besides getting ourselves a decent meal!

Please Yourself

Early this week, magicians and illusionists around the world celebrated 100 years of the famous ‘sawing a woman in half’ trick, first performed by magician P. T. Selbit in Finsbury Park Empire Theatre, London, on 17 January 1921. Selbit is recognised as the first magician to show and promote such a trick on a public stage. This magic trick became as iconic as pulling a rabbit out of a hat, and formed the mainstay of many Magic Shows across the world.

Selbit would put his female assistant into a tight wooden box, about the size of a coffin, and secure her inside with ropes tied to her wrists and ankles. The box was then closed so that the audience could not see her, and placed in a horizontal position. Selbit would then proceed to saw the middle of the box with a large hand saw to give the impression that because of the restraints and no-room in the box the woman’s waist must have been in the path of the saw and hence cut through. At the end, the box would be opened and the woman -still with the ropes attached- would be revealed as being unharmed.

It is said that in later performances, to heighten the drama, Mr Selbit would sometimes tip fake blood into the drains and have an Ambulance waiting outside the Theatre with the sign, ‘in case the saw clips’.

Those were the times when such a magic performance wasn’t considered good unless someone fainted in the audience!

We need magic to spruce up our lives. Look for it all around you – find someone to saw?

More electric stories, coming-up, in the week(s) ahead, for us to sharpen our saws!

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-03

About: This is a story, told from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World.

Everywhere

Indonesia

On 9th January 2021, Sriwijaya Air flight SJY 182, a 26 year old Boeing 737-500 aircraft, took off from Jakarta, Indonesia, on a routine flight – usually 90 minutes – to Pontianak, in the West Kalimantan province of the Island of Borneo. In a few minutes after take-off the plane climbed to a height of 11000 feet when suddenly it dropped to about 3000 feet, in less than a minute, and then unexpectedly crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 50 passengers and 12 crew members. This included seven children and three babies. The plane has a capacity of 130, and all people on-board the flight were Indonesian. The reason for the crash is unclear and the black boxes, both of which have been found and retrieved, are being analysed to find answers.

Indonesian rescuers have pulled body parts, clothing and scraps of metal from the Java Sea on Sunday morning thereby confirming the crash. And search operations are in full swing.

This is only the 5th accident for Sriwijaya and the first involving onboard deaths. On 27 August 2008, Boeing 737-200, Flight 62 overran the runway at Jambi, Sumatra, striking and killing a farmer in a nearby hut who was taking shelter from the rain.

Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, with a population of more than 260 million people. Sriwijaya Air, established on 10 November 2003, is Indonesia’s third largest Domestic, Budget Airline operating from its hub at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Indonesia. It flies people to about 53 destinations within Indonesia and three regional countries.

Air travel is inherently risky and Airline Operators adopt some of the best safety measures available in any mode of human transportation. We can only wish and hope technology further improves and evolves to minimise the chances of an accident off this magnitude.

Going back in time, Srivijaya (written as Sri Vijaya or Sriwijaya) is a Sanskrit derived name meaning ‘prosperous victor’. The name is based on an historical Indonesian Buddhist thalassocracy (ie. primarily maritime realms, seaborne empire) based in Sumatra, Indonesia between the 8th and 12th century. It was the first unified Kingdom, in the region, to dominate much of the Malay Archipelago.

History says that in a rare case of India attacking another country, the Chola King, Rajendra Chola-I, son of the great RajaRaja Chola, of India’s Tamilnadu invaded the Srivijaya Kingdom and brought it to its knees to accept the Chola suzerainty. The provocation was said to be disputes over trade routes by the Srivijya Kingdom affecting a flourishing trade between the Cholas and the Chinese. And the Cholas had an awesome fleet of warships at that time with much of sea-coast under their control. Rajendra Chola-I, one of the greatest Kings of India, expanded the Chola Empire like none before him taking it to the banks of the Ganges in North India and across the Bay of Bengal. The Chola Empire’s territories extended to coastal Burma, the Andaman & Nicobar Island, Lakshawadeep, Maldives, Sumatra, Java, Malaya, and neighbouring Sri Lanka, during his reign between 1014 and 1044 CE.

The Cholas have been one of my all-time favourites with fabulous achievements to their credit. Theirs was a great Empire, and it is distressing to learn that very little is written and known about them in India. And I hope that I have ignited a ‘kind of spark’ here.

Reeling from the aircraft disaster, Indonesia was struck again, this time by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, on Friday morning, on the Island of Sulwesi, leaving at least 30 dead. This came just hours after an earlier, smaller tremor. Hundreds of people were injured and thousands displaced by the quake.

Disaster never comes alone? It brings along its brothers, sisters and cousins, I guess!

Uganda

Reggae singer, pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine, aged 38, – real name, Robert Kyagulanyi – hopes to unseat long-serving Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni who has been in power of near about 35 years, since the fall of Dictator Idi Amin. And is one of the world’s most despised Dictators. Museveni is seeking a sixth term in the Elections being held on 14th January and besides Bobi Wine there are nine other challengers in the fray.

Over the last two decades Bobi Wine has written and sung songs about improving basic needs in Uganda: access to healthcare, education, clean water, and justice, which music he wishes to string into a Presidential win.

Bobi Wine’s mother was a nurse who worked to bring bread to the table, and bought land in Kampala’s Kamwokya slum where Bobi built his world-famous recording studio. This has earned Bobi Wine the title of ’Ghetto President’ with the run for the presidency.

His song, ‘Tuliyambala Engule‘ (We shall wear the Victor’s Crown) has become one of the campaign’s unofficial themes.

There has never been a peaceful handover of power in Uganda. The Government has suspended social media and internet services during the Elections. Counting is underway, and we hope to hear a new reggae music album hit the Ugandan Charts. Will it be ‘wine’ for the celebrations? Early counting results show President Museveni leading, and results may be declared in the coming days. Let the music play on. Uganda’s national bird, the grey crowned crane, looking down from this week’s doodle, will make its pick, for sure.

The United States of America (USA), again.

On 13 January, The USA executed the first woman, Lisa Montgomery, 52, in nearly 70 years, since 1953. She was the only woman on a death row and was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Lisa Montgomery was sentenced to death in 2008 for the murder of a pregnant woman, cutting the fetus out and kidnapping it, in the year 2004. The baby survived.

The US Supreme Court denied a last-ditch effort by the Defense Attorneys who argued that she should have been given a competency hearing to prove her severe mental illness, which would have made her ineligible for the death penalty.

Jaws-II

Meanwhile, we are not done with President Donald Trump who on Wednesday was impeached a second time for instigating the horrible insurrection riots of Capitol Hill, in a culmination of a ‘I do not accept the Presidential Election Results – the Election was stolen from me’ attitude. This is the first-ever US President to be impeached twice, and that too in a single term. Now, the Senate should decide whether to throw him out of Office, which is unlikely as it requires a 2/3rds majority vote. He might live to see another Election having escaped the jaws of justice twice over?

I’m disappointed with the Republicans for failing to control this ‘Bull in an American Shop’. The ten Republicans who broke ranks and voted to impeach the President have the conscience, which others don’t.

Looking up, a lot for firsts are being added to American History. Make America great, again?

Test Cricket Down Under

Playing traditional Test Cricket with Australia, in Australia, India was horribly ‘ground under’, badly mauled in the first test, losing it with what looked like a ‘mobile number score card’ in the second innings. Then it started climbing from the down and clawed back to a superb win in the second test to level the series 1-1. Now in the third test India showed sublime steely defiance to bat out the final day and draw the match-chasing an unlikely 407 runs to win. India got to a score of 334 with five wickets down in an incredible performance, which will go down in Indian Test Cricket History as one of the best fight-backs.

There’s a deciding fourth match coming up in the Test Series and the Winner can still take it all. With Indian Captain Virat Kohli taking ‘baby leave’ (It’s a girl) filling-in Captain Ajinkya Rahane, is becoming man enough to lead the Team, milking the Australian muscle.

Vaccines, again

India is beginning to roll out one of the biggest Vaccination drives in the world with the precious Vaccines, stored cold, being dispatched to various destinations across India. The first vaccination is expected to happen on the 16th January.

I say, get that arm ready for the punch!

Data Security and Breaches

This is a topic on a high these days with people debating on which messenger service to move to after the very popular Facebook owned WhatsApp announced some fat changes in its Privacy & Data sharing Rules between its Companies, to take effect from 8 February 2021. Who reads the legal-jargon fully loaded-fine print anyway before ticking ‘I accept’? Suddenly, there was a scramble to discover other messenger Apps with leaner terms & conditions. My College Group hunted down Signal after initially tinkering with Telegram, and we are moving to new data highways.

Meanwhile, in a data breach unprecedented in its scale in India, a large multi-speciality private Hospital in Kerala had all of its patients’ records of the last five years leaked on to the internet. These were records of Medical Test Results, Scans, Prescriptions, etc., searchable by a unique patient ID.

The Government too was caught napping, when in early January this year there was a story on a technology portal about how details of COVID-19 test results of tens of thousands of patients were leaked on the internet through multiple Government of Delhi domains.

How does this happen? Most common ways are, criminal hacking, human error, malware, unauthorised use, social engineering, etc.

What do we do to prevent data breaches from happening? Some tips are: Limit access to valuable data, conduct employee security awareness training, company-wide, update software regularly, encrypt data, and develop a cyber breach. Keep updating that software on your Mobile Phones, Computers and other software driven electronic devices.

My golden rule is, engage with social media ‘fully dressed’ and undress yourself only when you are at home. Share, and ‘show things’ that you would like everyone in this world to see and don’t mind it… and keep all other things to yourself.

Please Yourself

It was a tiring day, after close-of-work I had a hot shower-allowing the steam to caress the skin and soften the body, and then decided I deserved to reward myself with a good movie. I switched on Netflix and after the mandatory flirting through a cornucopia of movie choices opened the curtain on Rajiv Menon’s inspirational 2019 Tamil movie ‘Sarvam Thaalamayam’ (rhythms everywhere) starring music director G V Prakash as the hero, Peter Johnson. G V Prakash? Oops, I had never seen him act in a movie before this. Never mind, let the film roll.

It’s a story about a famous mridangam player named Vembu Iyer – strung impeccably by the great Malayalam Film Actor, Nedumudi Venu – and his student Peter Johnson, son of a poor expert mridangam maker. Peter is a diehard fan of Actor Vijay with innate music skills, which he displays to wide acclaim on the streets, when celebrating the film openings of his hero. While delivering a mridangam to the maestro Vembu Iyer, playing on Stage, he is enthralled by the scene and decides to learn from the master himself. The movie is about finding one’s calling and relentlessly trying to achieve it after various up & downs. The heroine, Sara, is a nurse who besides the actual nursing job, including treating Peter on first contact (falling in love is a must) when he gets injured in a street brawl, nurses the talent of Peter. She encourages him to learn from the ‘beats of nature’ if he is unable to find himself a Teacher, when Vembu Iyer throws him out over a misunderstanding. The movie is about how Peter gets back to Vembu Iyer, finishes his training and comes out beating the mridangam on his own. Many memorable performances by the cast. Watch it for the motivation.

More stories, coming-up, in the weeks ahead.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-02

About: This is a beautiful story, told from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World.

Everywhere

The New American Gangster

The United States of America (USA) is hogging the headlines, all for the wrong hurt reasons. President Donald Trump continued to unabashedly find unavailable fault lines in America’s just concluded ‘democratic’ Presidential Elections, which he lost, – speaking figuratively – by about the distance between Washington and New York. And refused to acknowledge defeat. He had the temerity to call up Georgia’s Secretary of State to find new dishes to cook up a victory for himself, and poison Biden’s food. ‘Bold abuse of power’ said the incoming Vice-President-Elect. Needs to stomach this and perhaps much more, before Inauguration Day on 20 January 2021.

Over the past four years the US has been offering the world high quality technicolour ‘cowboy – red-Indian’ entertainment, and it’s now reaching a crescendo. Actually, it did, when on Wednesday, Trump-supporting Protestors stormed Capitol Hill where Election Results were being counted, ahead of final certification, in a first-ever Capitol breach since the British attacks in the year 1814, and ransacked offices inside; also ‘occupying various chairs’. A woman was shot dead in the process. Unbelievable scenes out there. The President cooly told the invaders, “We have to have peace, so go home. We love you, you’re very special”. Christopher Columbus must have been pleased. The mayhem started after Trump told his supporters that he will be joining them in a march to the Capitol. Isn’t that fuel enough? I say fire him!

After these bizarre action scenes, Trump finally agreed to ensure a smooth transition, once Congress certified the Biden-Harris win later that day. However, he continued with his rant that the Presidential Election was stolen from him and that he will not attend the inauguration of the new President.Cheese!

Meanwhile, the blue Democrats won both run-off Elections in the State of Georgia making it a tie, and giving them control in the Senate, with the Vice-President having to lean-in to tilt the balance. The Biden-Harris team now has control of both law-making Houses and can push ‘change bills’ without a sweat on their brow.

America’s democracy is forever stained and the people who ‘rode the trail’ with the President are equally to blame for allowing him to gallop in to this crazy stage. Should have used the lasso, long ago, or truthfully borrowed one from Wonder Woman 2021 (is there one?) to rein him in.

I think this is the nearest to a coup the USA has ever seen. And we thought India’s noisy, mike-pulling and throwing democracy was lousy? We have competition, but India has never seen a challenge to its National Election results in this fashion.

There’s a joke doing the rounds on the internet, “Due to the pandemic travel restrictions, this year the US had to organise the coup at home”. Maybe, it’s time other countries offer their Peace Keeping Troops to force democratic peace in the US? I’ve admired America all my life and have never seen it go so low down. Wonder who has the stars & stripes in their eyes. We are awed & struck by the world’s awe & strike specialist. The new American Gangster?

Vaccinating India

India was running behind the USA in the COVID-19 infections and while the USA started out on another track – Vaccinations, India is yet to start. Nevertheless, India is ‘doing the heats’ with dry vaccination runs all over the Country. The confidence is visible in every step the Government takes, but where is the Vaccine? Close-friend Israel has already punched over a million arms and India is just beginning to roll up its sleeves. This Sunday, the Drugs Controller General of India approved two Vaccines for ‘emergency use’, The Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine – already being used in the UK – will be jabbing under the name ‘Covishield’, and the homemade ‘Covaxin’.

The homespun one has stirred the proverbial hornets nest on being approved far too quickly, with unknown results of Phase-III Trials and unspoken efficacy levels.

Has India jumped the gun? I would trust the Government, the approving Authorities, and the hard-working Scientists behind the home effort… and offer my arm.

We Are The Children. The Child is the Father (& Mother) of Man.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, originally called United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has estimated that about 371,504 babies will be born around the world on New Year’s Day, out of which a Himalayan 59,995 will be born in India. That’s a damn good start for the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme. China comes a poor second with 35,615 babies. Finally, we have beaten China! And this is one area India is unmatched and unbeatable?

2021’s first baby will be born in Fiji and the last in the USA. UNICEF goes on to say that, in total, an estimated 140 million children will be born in 2021 with an average life expectancy of 84 years. Naturally, the UNICEF, itself born in the year 1946, has dedicated its 75th year to reimagining a better world for children. The job of the UNICEF is to work full-time in saving children’s lives around the world and ensuring that they survive, find, and develop their true potential – lurking inside their genes, to make this world a better place, and to carry forward the story of humankind. Of course.

Ever since my wife and I started our Women’s Apparel Design and manufacturing Company, we have dressed-up many women for their Wedding Day. And in the recent past, most have returned with a baby – inside or outside. I witness, first hand, ‘the swell’ in India’s population. One of our customers who has failed to make complete payment for the Wedding dresses, and used the lockdown to her advantage, suddenly sprouted up on Friday to settle. She said she now has a two-month old baby boy. My, that’s a job very well done!

Never mind, my School Teacher – I still keep in touch with her- who lives, retired in Bengaluru, India, worries to no end that none of her married children have gone into the production mode, and the wait for a grandchild seems never-ending. I hope these statistics enable her keep the faith, and bring her children to sow their seed in India’s fertile environment. New vista’s for development, around the corner!

Please Yourself. Aim for the Stars.

The New Year invariably brings us to the start of making new resolutions, to accomplish various tasks during the year, and turn the page on the old. Goal-setting is actually good, it works wonders and gives direction and meaning to an otherwise meandering life.

You need to decide where you want to go, else anything will take you anywhere!

I follow Larry Kim, the CEO of Mobile Monkey and Founder of Word Stream, on Twitter, and he dishes out some sane advice. Here is one of them – ten ways to make 2021 your best year:

Review your past years. Show your appreciation. Set Big Goals. Make a Vision Board. Plan your Calendar. Organise using an agenda. Create a reading list – reading stimulates the mind and improves focus and concentration (I’ve already ordered two books, on Amazon, to read. Nina Stibbe’s, Reasons To Be Cheerful, and Elle McNicoll’s, A Kind Of Spark). Set a morning routine. Commit to eat healthier. Monetise your passion(I’m trying with my writing).

I leave you with this thoughtful saying, by Khalil Gibran, which I keep on the opening page of my Bullet Journal, every year. It inspires me, hope it does the same magic to you.

“A traveller am I and a navigator and every day I discover a new region with my soul”

Have a great fulfilling year ahead. Work that arm, shake that leg, and crank that ‘supercomputer’, between your ears. There’s nothing you cannot do with such awesome resources at your command.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-01

About: This is a wonderful story, from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World. This week we take five heavy steps in 2020 and two light steps in 2021. A solid start, for sure.

Everywhere

The Software Of Life: The Hard Story of Katalin Kariko

Ever wondered how we got a Vaccine for Covid-19 so quickly? This is the incredible, fascinating story of how an indefatigable, never-say-give-up biochemist provided the foundation and the springboard for making this possible.

I quote this unforgettable, powerful – my all time favourite – speech by Howard Roark, in a court, in Ayn Rand’s classic, ‘The Fountainhead’, defending his unconventional method of approach to work.

“Throughout the centuries there were men (also meaning women) who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was the first, the road new, the vision un-borrowed, and the response they received-hatred. The great creators-the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors-stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anaesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of un-borrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered, and they paid. But they won”. Let’s take the next step on this week’s road.

The announcement of the discovery of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) – one of the fundamental building blocks of life – and cracking of the genetic code happened within weeks of each other in a climax of scientific excitement in the year 1961. We have all, by now, become awfully familiar with mRNA, haven’t we?

For more than a decade, researchers in the US and Europe had been attempting to unravel exactly how the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is involved in the creation of proteins – the long strings of amino acids, and the carrier of genetic information, that are sine quo non to the growth and functioning of all life forms. It was discovered that mRNA is the answer. These molecules act like digital tape recorders, repeatedly copying instructions from DNA in the cell nucleus, and carrying them to protein-making and synthesizing structures called ribosomes. Without this key role, DNA would be nothing but a useless string of chemicals, and so some have dubbed mRNA the ‘software of life.’ Now, onto our biochemist, the mRNA Scientist.

Katalin Kariko was born in the year 1955, in a Christian family in Szolnok, Central Hungary. She grew up in Kisujzellas on the Great Hungarian Plain where her father worked as a butcher. Fascinated by science, Kariko began her career, at age 23, at the Biological Research Centre in the University of Szeged, Hungary, where she obtained her PhD. Kariko was first exposed to the functions of mRNA as an under-graduate student in 1976, during a lecture at the University and has been intrigued ever since. Her PhD was on studying how mRNA might be used to target viruses. While the concept of gene therapy was also beginning to take off at the same time, she felt mRNA had the potential to become a game-changer in kicking-up the body’s cells to fight infections.

Communist Hungary being always hungry for resources couldn’t feed Kariko’s hunger, leave alone her appetite, for research, and in 1985 the University sacked her.

With little opportunities elsewhere, Kariko got a job at the Temple University, Philadelphia, USA and decided to immigrate. Hungarians being forbidden to take money outside the country, she sold the family car in the black market, and hid the money by sewing it up inside her two-year old daughter’s stuffed toy teddy bear.

It did not take long for the American Dream to crash-land. And after four years, Kariko was forced to leave Temple University and join the neighbouring University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), following a dispute with her boss, who even attempted to have her deported.

By the early to mid 1990s, the initial excitement surrounding mRNA was beginning to thin-out and fade. While scientists had cracked the problem of how to create their own mRNA, a new hurdle had emerged: when injected into animals it induced such a severe inflammatory response from the immune system that the animal died. Any thoughts of human trials was impossible.

However, Kariko was determined to solve this problem. But many other scientists were turning away from the field, and her bosses at UPenn felt mRNA had shown itself to be impractical, and she was wasting her time. They issued an ultimatum, if she wanted to continue working with mRNA she would lose her prestigious faculty position, and face a substantial pay cut.

Meanwhile, Kariko was diagnosed with cancer and her husband who had gone back to Hungary, to complete unfinished business, got stranded over a Visa issue.

While undergoing surgery, Kariko thought it over: decided to stay in UPenn, accept the humiliation of being demoted, and continue to doggedly pursue the problem. This led to a chance meeting with Drew Weissman, a respected immunologist, who moved to UPenn in 1977, which would both change the course of her career, and that of science.

While Kariko’s academic status at UPenn remained lowly, Weissman had the necessary funding to finance her experiments, and the two began a partnership.

Kariko and Weissman realised that the key to creating a form of mRNA which could be administered safely, was to identify which of the underlying nucleosides – the letters of RNA’s genetic code – were provoking the immune system and replace them with something else ‘more friendly’. In the early 2000s, Kariko stumbled upon a study which showed that one of these letters, Uridine, could trigger certain immune receptors. It was the crucial piece of information she had been searching for.

Every strand of mRNA is made up of four molecular building blocks called nucleosides. But in its altered, synthetic form, one of those building blocks, like a misaligned wheel on a car, was throwing everything off by signalling the immune system. So Kariko and Weissman simply substituted it with a slightly tweaked version, creating a hybrid mRNA that could sneak its way into cells without overly alerting the body’s defences.

In 2005, Kariko and Weissman published their Study, announcing a specifically modified form of mRNA, which replaced Uridine with an analog – a molecule which looked the same, but did not induce an immune response. It was a clever biological trick, and one which worked. When mice were injected with this modified mRNA, they lived. Kariko and Weissman filed a patent, established a company, but then found there was no interest shown in their work. Nobody invited them anywhere to talk about it, nothing at all.

Unknown to them, some scientists were quietly paying attention and reading the fine print of their publication. And in 2010 a Biotech company called Moderna, was founded with a group of Harvard and MIT professors, with the specific aim of using modified mRNA to create vaccines and therapeutics. A decade on, Moderna is now one of the leaders in the Covid-19 vaccine research and production, as part of America’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ which goal is to produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021. Around the same time Moderna was founded, Kariko and Weissman finally managed to commercialise their finding, licensing their technology to a small German company called BioNTech, after five years of trying and failing.

Both Moderna and BioNTech, which was founded by a Turkish born entrepreneur, had their focus on the lucrative fields of cancer immunotherapy, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Now that Kariko and Weissman’s discovery made it possible to safely administer mRNA to patients, some of the original goals for mRNA back in the 1970s, suddenly become viable possibilities, again.

In 2013, Kariko accepted an offer to become Senior Vice President at BioNTech after UPenn refused to reinstate her to the faculty position she had been demoted from in 1995. She was told, UPenn concluded that she wasn’t ‘Faculty Quality’. When she said she was leaving they laughed at her and said, ‘BioNTech doesn’t even have a website.’ Kariko has been at the helm of BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine development ever since, and the Official Vaccine co-developed with Pfizer has now been approved for use.The rest, they say, is history.

With the Covid-19 pandemic requiring vaccine development on an unprecedented scale, mRNA vaccine approaches held a clear advantage over the more traditional but time consuming method of using a dead or inactivated form of the virus to create an immune response. Basically, the mRNA tells cells what proteins to make, essential to keeping our bodies alive and heathy. The mRNA degrades quickly and the instructions it gives the body aren’t permanent, making the technology and ideal platform for a variety of applications.

After so many years of adversity, and struggling to convince people that her research was worthwhile, she is still trying to comprehend the fact that her breakthrough in mRNA technology could now change the lives of billions around the world, and help end the pandemic. She has passed on the strong-willed message to her daughter, Susan Francia, who won the gold medal in the US Rowing Team, in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Katalin Kariko deserves a Noble Prize. Medicine, or Chemistry – you decide!

The World of Abortions

This Wednesday, Argentina, South America’s third-most populous, catholic-majority country, legalised abortion in an historic vote to give millions of women access to legal terminations under a new law supported by its President, Alberto Fernández.

The law will legalize abortion in all cases up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion in Argentina, is currently only permitted when a pregnancy results from rape or endangers the life or health of the woman. In all other circumstances, abortion is illegal and is punishable by up to fifteen years in jail.

According to a study report nearly 40,000 women and children in Argentina were hospitalized in 2016 as a result of unsafe, clandestine abortions or miscarriages.

Let’s do a quick flashback, when India passed a similar, important legislation in January 2020, which went largely un-noticed and un-applauded. India amended its Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act allowing women to seek abortions as part of reproductive rights and gender justice placing India in the top league of countries serving women who wish to make individual choices based on their own perspectives and situations. The new law leans forward a lot, is empathetic, and looks at a very sensitive issue with a human face.

India’s MTP Act raised the upper limit of MTP from 20 to 24 weeks for women, including rape survivors, victims of incest, differently-abled women and minors. Failure of contraception is also acknowledged, and MTP is now available to ‘any woman or her partner’ replacing the old provision for ‘only married woman or her husband.’ It proposes requirement of opinion of one Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) for termination of pregnancy up to 20 weeks. It also provides for the requirement of opinion of two RMPs for termination of pregnancy of 20 to 24 weeks. It seeks to increase the upper limit from 20 to 24 weeks for survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women. For unmarried women, the Bill seeks to relax the contraceptive-failure condition for ‘any woman or her partner’ from the present provision for ‘only married woman or her husband’, allowing them to medically terminate the pregnancy.

Whoa, unbelievable things happening inside us! I’ve always believed that a woman should have complete control over her body, and make informed choices depending on the predicament she is in.

The striking Indian farmers should have applauded this law, which is as path-breaking at the new Farm Laws. Sometimes, we simply do to know what is good for us until we plough, seed and watch the results swell – and occupy space!

Rajinican’t: In World Inthavaaram, 2020-49, I talked about 70 year old South-Indian Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s decision to enter Indian Politics.

https://kumargovindan.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/world-inthavaaram-2020-49/

This time around, after many tireless flicks of the cigarette, it missed the lips. The Actor was hospitalised with irregular blood pressure during a shooting of his 168th film ‘Annaatthe’ (meaning, elder brother) and the movie crew got infected with Covid-19. This was weeks before he was to make an announcement of launch of a casteless, boundary less New Political Party on 31st December 2020 to take on the mighty parochial, chauvinist Dravidian Parties of Tamilnadu. The Doctors on discharging him from Hospital put the brakes on his ventures outside the bed and advised complete bed-rest for at least a week. In 2016 Rajini has undergone a kidney transplant and has been plagued with health issues over the years. Given the stranglehold of the pandemic, making it awfully difficult to meet people and convince them to vote for him, Rajini decided to quit politics even before he entered it, citing health issues. God sent him an email (probably a mRNA hit him in Hospital?), while lying on his Hospital Bed, and Rajini read it well.

Millions of his fans were disappointed. But, I think it’s a bold decision. Made me wonder why he was ‘still acting’ when he was planning to launch his political career in a couple of days? Appears that he wanted to finish the shooting, of the already started film, before plunging into full-time politics. It wasn’t to be. Wisdom is making intelligent choices on things you can and cannot do. Cigarette-flicking takes the pressure off the head, putting it in the hands…and it works!

The Ancient World

Every new year becomes seemingly brighter, once we unravel and learn more about new things of ancient life on Earth; the way our ancestors lived – well, actually the way they ate their food.

Archaeologists digging in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have made the extraordinary find of a hot food and drinks snacks shop – known as a termopolium – that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to locals and passersby. The shop, with its bright frescoes and terracotta jars, was discovered in 2019 and unveiled last Saturday. It is expected to be opened to the public – for viewings only – this year. Once the travel restrictions are lifted, buy yourself a ticket to Pompeii for an ancient snack?

Pompeii, 23 km southeast of Naples, Italy, was home to about 13,000 people when it was buried in a volcanic eruption from ‘loudly thinking’ Mount Vesuvius, in 79 CE.

Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop-keeper probably lowered into a counter with circular holes. The front of the counter was decorated with brightly coloured frescoes, some depicting animals that were part of the ingredients in the food sold, such as a colourful rooster and two ducks hanging upside down. Traces of pork, fish, snails and beef had been found in the containers, a discovery which is a ‘testimony to the great variety of animal products used to prepare dishes.’

For sure the Romans ate well!

The UN has declared 2021 as the International Year of Peace and Trust, while it’s also the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables.

Happy New Year 2021. The best is yet to come! And there’s lots to eat.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2020-52

About: This is a wonderful story, from my perspective, on what happened this week, in our World.

Everywhere

The United Kingdom (UK) has been struck with a highly mutated – 17 alterations (14 mutations and 3 deletions) to the original – coronavirus which is about 70% more infectious. Scientists explain that the variant could have spiked-up from a patient with an awfully weakened immune system that was simply overwhelmed by the virus. Apparently the patient’s body became a breeding factory – and a research laboratory – for the virus to thrive and mutate to a better version of itself. Studies say that there have been about 4,000 mutations so far into the pandemic and this is one of the deadliest. Breathe out – not bad at all. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has become more transmissible – breathe-in, that’s the worrying aspect.

Meanwhile, just as the UK got the scent of this one, a second variant from South Africa was detected. Now there is a scramble to get on top of this mutant. The Crown would have to take a Queen’s Gambit to check-mate the wily, invisible fellow in what is certainly not The Last Kingdom.

The virus-busting Vaccines that are arriving ‘fighting fit’, with spike guns blazing, are almost certainly capable of doing their ‘original job’. However, its effect on the mutants is unclear, at this stage. The effect of the new variants seems to be in quicker transmission, hence more infections, rather than deadlier sickness. With Boxing Day coming up the day after Christmas we have to glove up and keep our chin-guard, to prevent a knock out, while the staff go home with their boxes of presents.

This is becoming an interesting competition between the Virus and the Vaccine. A question of who gets where first? Right now, the virus is way ahead. But with official vaccinations already happening in the UK and the United States of America (USA), we hope to herd our immunity soon. In addition, with many of the current Vaccines being made out of mRNA, we can quickly tinker minor changes to keep-up with the mutants. Mutation works both ways. We humans are clever! Staying Alive.

The Indian Government heard everything and is making an ambitious plan to start jabbing too – beginning in January 2021 and band-aiding all its priority targets by August 2021. It has set top priorities as, the front-line healthcare workers, the armed forces, the policemen, the over 50 Plus ( I fall into this category), and those with existing multiple health issues. I would rather the Children and Teachers wait until those in front of them stand-up on the benches and prove the efficacy of the vaccine.

With such momentum building-up against the virus, the kids still need to keep holding and looking at the mobile phones, for learning through the online classes. What a year! And we wanted our kids to get their paws off a mobile device!

We are ‘not leaving’ the UK, as yet, as news breaks-in that Britain and the European Union (EU) finally sealed a hard-fought trade agreement, this Christmas Eve, ending over four years of bitter divorce proceedings, ‘revealing’ disagreements, and close, grinding negotiations, post Brexit. Guess, even Santa Claus must have given a nudge, and presents fell-off the sledge, just a week before the 31st December 2020 deadline. The ‘jumbo’ free trade deal is along the lines of that agreed between the EU and Canada and does not cover Services, which constitute 80% of the British Economy. Now, the respective Parliaments of Britain and the EU must ratify the Agreement.

I reckon a deal is better than a no deal. And the deal has happened in the nick of time.

Flying out to Space, on 21st December, Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our Solar System, of the Milky-Way Galaxy, came closer together than they have been in 400 years. And it’s nearly 800 years since this alignment occurred at night, enabling skywatchers to watch the spectacular sight. They were just 0.1 degrees apart, or about one-fifth of the diameter of a full moon. The astronomical event was called the Great Conjunction and the alignment nicknamed as the ‘Christmas Star’.

The last time these trying-to-fall-in-love-planets were this close and so easy to see was in the year 1226, long before the invention of the telescope. Someone said, ‘distance generates love’. We are seeing and believing.

World over, photographers made superb impressions of the love-scene. The take-away and keep-sake, beneath the sheets, for the next 400 years, for those lonely nights?

Back to Earth. Imagine I’m a young nun (born Beena Thomas), all of 19, besotted by Jesus Christ and wishing to make a career in spreading his word. I join a Christian Convent for a pre-degree course. One hot, humid, Indian summer morning I wake up at 4am, to begin preparations for an upcoming exam. I walk down from my first floor boarding, to the kitchen below, to get some cold water from the refrigerator. While doing this I bump into two male Priests – Fathers, and a Nun, going astray from the principles of the Convent and The Holy Church, in what we all call ‘a compromising position’. Before I know it, I’m struck by an axe, strangled and thrown down into a nearby well – to drown what little life is left of me, and allowed to die.

The Police and the multiple Investigators declare me as a ‘died by suicide’ case – I know I didn’t. And they try to close the Case.

A few right people smell something wrong and dig out the Case, force the authorities to re-investigate, and after a battle of 28 long years, filled with twists and turns, justice is finally delivered. One Priest and the Nun are found guilt and sentenced to life in prison. This is the story of Sister Abhaya in Kottayam, Kerala State, India. It happened on 27th March 1992 and has been one of the longest running cases of Kerala. Now closed.

Do I deserve to die for something I saw and had no intention of seeing? How can the safety level be so low in a place of worship, which mutated into such a barbaric act? What were the Fathers doing in a Nun’s Convent where male presence is generally banned? The Church should wake up to brutal, unforgivable events of this kind happening under its watch – which it didn’t watch.

I rest in peace, but much more needs to be done to prevent such things happening to any other girl of my kind. Never ever should it happen again. We have to crank the Police System to be the guardians of freedom and life on Earth – with God watching from above.

Please Yourself

Pythons for Dinner? Think about it. If China can eat Bats, America can eat Snakes. The predator might soon land on an American dinner table, nicely sliced-up, if Florida Scientists can confirm that Burmese Pythons – an extremely invasive species in the region of Everglades-are safe to eat.

Pythons are nonvenomous constrictors primarily found in South Florida, USA, where they have posed a serious risk to wildlife in the region. The snake is not native to the State, and began appearing in the Everglades in the 1980s when it was most likely to have been introduced as an escaped or released pet.

When pythons are indeed declared safe to eat, they can actually be quite delicious, says one of the ‘Python Hunters’ of a Python Removal Program, established to swallow the Pythons – head to tail.

A mercury testing kit is used to confirm that mercury (if any, from the environment) in their meat is below detection levels. And then, their white meat is turned into food. First, a pressure cooker is used to make the meat soft and tender. Later, pasta is added, then sauce, chilli or stir-fry. Maybe garnish it with coriander or methi?

Mouth watering? I can already picture my tongue forking out, slithering like a snake. Foods choices only keep increasing every year!

It’s Christmas time and I fell in love with this statement by the Top Infectious Diseases Expert of the USA, Dr. Anthony Fauci, talking on a Television program: “I took a trip up there to the North Pole, and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. I measured his level of immunity, and he is good to go. He can come down the chimney. He can leave the presents. You have nothing to worry about.”

After having ‘touched Santa’, Dr. Fauci himself got vaccinated, over the week. And is now a great buddy of Santa Claus – sent him some layered masks too, as a return gift. Post your wishes to Dr. Fauci – to sledge it to Santa.

Expect a vaccinated, masked Santa Claus to safely deliver all that you wished for.

Time to rethink, reimagine, get-vaccinated, and rebuild.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2021.

This is my Blog where I essay stories on life about and around me, on subjects that stir and shake me up, as I turn, and make life's pages count: hoping to inspire you to live your own story!

Everywhere

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Please Yourself

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