Tag: Omicron

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-52

About: the world this week, 19 December to 25 December 2021, the thing of the year, the country of the year, signs of an invasion, bad behaviour by lawmakers, an antediluvian egg, and movies – in and out of prison; and a stylish, smashing brother helps.

Everywhere

My ‘Thing Of The Year’, the coronavirus and its evolving mutations, continues to hold the world in thrall, and by the throat. The latest avatar, Omicron, is already dominating infections in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and most of Europe. To give a statistic: Covid19 deaths in the US now exceed all deaths, military and civilian, in all American wars since the Revolutionary War (1775-76).

India is watching with ‘masked breath’, the cases are slowly growing in numbers and that dreaded word, ‘lockdown’ is unlocking in our minds. Many of us hope it dare not get a stronghold, the way it tossed us up, gasping for breath, in the so-called second wave.

Latest studies say that the Omicron variant isn’t as bad as the Delta variant, but certainly more infectious. We just need to keep ourselves ahead of the spikes: do what it takes to stay safe this Holiday Season – get and wear that armour.

With Christmas approaching, I hope everyone’s wish is a ‘stocking filled with the belief that the world will see the last spike of the coronavirus in 2022 – and others of its kind’. It may be a tough load for Santa to reindeer-in through the chimney, but faith is everything.

Italy

Italy was crowned the ‘Country of the Year’ by The Economist newspaper, in its annual honouring of the country that, in its view, improved the most in the year 2021: mind it, the award is not given to the biggest, the richest, or the happiest country! Central to the honour was Mario Draghi, described as a ‘competent, internationally respected Prime Minister’. Meanwhile, disgraced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is modelling a comeback! Auguroni (Best Wishes).

Russia and Ukraine

Russia invaded the headlines this week, firing the eternal question, ‘is Russia going to annex Ukraine -like it did Crimea-are Russian forces getting ready for war in Ukraine?’ Oops, since when did invasions become fashionable again; ask the Vikings in Valhalla?

It was only seven years ago, in 2014, that Russia seized and then annexed the southern Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, when Ukrainians were busy deposing their pro-Russian President. And Russian-backed separatists captured large swathes of Ukraine’s two eastern regions collectively known as the Donbas.

There is a mind problem here with Russia developing a mindset that Russia and Ukraine are one nation, after the fall of the Soviet Union: a twin brothers-separated-at birth-thing. Russian is the second most spoken language in Ukraine after Ukrainian. Another cause for Russia’s concern is that Ukraine is ‘sleeping with’ NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and may marry into the Western Alliance. And Russia is demanding guarantees that the wedding will never happen.

NATO is a defensive alliance and its Secretary General, has made clear that any military support would be purely along those lines. The UK is set to help Ukraine build two naval bases, at Ochakiv on the Black Sea, and at Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov. The US’ anti-tank Javelin missiles have also been sent to Ukraine and two US Coast Guard patrol boats have been given to the navy. And Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is watching closely.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is looking for a clear timeline from the alliance. Wedding bells adding sound to the jingle of Christmas?

Russia is threatening military measures, and the US says if it invades Ukraine it will hit back with sanctions on an unprecedented scale. This is a place to watch. Maybe it’s just a Russian posturing, to prevent NATO from marrying more nations and bringing many children into the world opposed to Russia…and in Russia’s backyard.

India

India’s Opposition continued to ‘dishonour’ Parliament – in my view – sulking and striking over a well-deserved suspension of 12 fellow Members of Parliament (MP) for unruly, unacceptable behaviour, in the previous session. And wasting tax-payer’s money. Late in the week, another Quiz-Master turned MP joined the gang after flinging the Rule Book at the House Speaker. The best part is, these MPs wore the suspension as a badge of honour and along with ‘their partners in crime’ ensured Parliament work was disrupted.

MPs should set an example by setting in motion thoughtful discussions, artful debates and, agreeing to agree and agreeing to disagree.

Meanwhile, the Government rammed through Lower & Upper Houses of Parliament some much-needed electoral reforms, linking the unique Identification, Aadhar Card, with the Voter’s Identity Card – an obvious attempt a controlling election voting fraud.

The Government also tabled a bill, after Cabinet approval, to increase a woman’s age of marriage to 21, from the earlier 18, bringing it on par with a man. Women should be able to make better choices at this age and overcome a constant Indian pressure to marry-off the girls when they are just beginning to get the hang and the bang of things.

Dinosaurs

Over the years, we have become used to news of Dinosaur bones being discovered while digging in some corner of the World and put together to find a big name for it: many have landed up in museums where we can see the past ‘assembled and standing still in front of us’. Dinosaurs were real.

Now comes a more real story, announced by Scientists this week, about an unprecedented fossil, a perfectly preserved baby dinosaur curled up, almost life-like, inside its egg and obviously preparing to hatch, just like a chicken. The fossil is about 70 million years old.

The egg is around 17 centimeters (cm) long and the Dinosaur is estimated to be 27 cm long from head to tail. The researchers believe as an adult, had it lived, it would have been about two to three meters long. The fossil preserves the embryonic skeleton of an Oviraptorid Dinosaur, which has been nicknamed ‘Baby Yingliang’ after the name of the Chinese museum which houses the fossil. Baby dinosaur bones are small and fragile and are only very rarely preserved as fossils, making this a very lucky find, indeed.

All birds directly evolved from a group of two-legged dinosaurs known as Theropods, whose members include the towering Tyrannosaurus Rex and the smaller Velociraptors. This find is expected to shed more light on the links between dinosaurs and birds, among other things.

The specimen was among several fossils discovered about two decades ago in the China’s City of Ganzhou in the south-eastern province of Jiangxi but not recognised to be fossilised dinosaur eggs until 2015, when evaluated by an expert. The fossils were acquired in the year 2000 by a director of a Chinese stone company called Yingliang Group and ended up in storage, largely forgotten until about 10 years later, when museum staff sorted through the boxes and came across the fossil during the construction of Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum. Eventually, the egg shell slightly cracked and the fragile bones inside became visible, prompting a peek-in.

Researchers then led a study of the fossil, which was published in the journal iScience this week. Well, they hatched the egg for us to see.

Please Yourself

Over the week I watched the magnificent Sandra Bullock movie, The Unforgivable’ about a woman who tries to re-enter society, after serving a 20 year sentence in prison: to a society that is unforgiving and refuses to allow her to forget her past. Her only hope for redemption is finding her younger sister who she was forced to leave behind without a care-taker. Her mom dies in childbirth after giving her a little sister. And upon the death of her Dad she brings up the sister in her childhood home until ‘the crime’ when the Sheriff who comes over to evict them is shot dead in the ensuing war of words.

The end brought tears to the eyes with the sisters ‘closing the gap’ with a simple hug and the body language doing all the talking. Brilliant. Before the end there is a twist, which tells us what actually happened on that fateful day. Watch the movie and find out for the sacrifices made by a sister to protect her 5 years old sibling and the never give-up spirit in finding and connecting with her again. Give purpose to life on Earth!

I had also watched the Rajinikant Tamil movie ‘Annaantthe’ and found it dumb to the core. But, I loved the way a brother does everything possible to be understanding, and building back the life of his sister, without showing himself-until the end, when the job is done. Here too the story ends with a hug, though a noisy one.

The sister elopes with her lover, when the brother fixes-up a marriage, and thereafter suffers terrible misfortune in business due to an ‘underworld rowdy gang’. And the brother comes to the rescue, unnoticed by the sister. Again, the brother raises the sister from a young age, when the parents die. He dotes on her expansively and refuses to fall in to the age-old trap of ‘finishing off a runaway bride’ to save the ‘family honour’.

Any sister would love to have such a brother watching over from behind and giving you the muscle to face and climb out of a treacherous situation. Call it strengthening the wings for the flight of life. And a permanent life support.

The superb Actor that Rajinikant is, there are not many film makers and directors who have done justice to his capabilities, calmly using his unique style. And Rajini has allowed himself to be dragged along the beaten path…punching dialogues, flicking cigarettes, and other things as well. He can do better.

More stylish sibling love stories coming up in the weeks ahead, hug World Inthavaaram. Careful when you break those eggs for breakfast – there may be a baby Dinosaur sleeping inside.

Season’s Greetings, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year 2022.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-49

About: the world this week, 28 November to 4 December 2021, the media gets omicron infected, Barbados bids adieu to The Crown, France honours an inspirational ‘Danse Sauvage’ banana skirt Spy, The Word of the Year, and China walls-in a tennis player.

Everywhere

The Omicron virus had a frenzied, fierce spread across the media of the world, with every vaccinated or unvaccinated news channel or newspaper dissecting and analysing its known (and unknown) capabilities. The wise said that we require some more time to see and study the effects of the new variant. Getting wiser?

We are definitely not going back to where we started in January 2020: we have evolved – I hope it is good enough. The weapons that we have with us, irrespective of any variant, is the rich learning and training of the past year, which we have to deploy to win yet another battle…and maybe the war. Meanwhile, get that shield!

The Land of the Bearded Tree

Barbados is a small island country in the Caribbean Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, with its capital at Bridgetown, its largest Town. Its neighbours are Saint Lucia, to the north, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to the west, and Trinidad & Tobago to the south. It is a fairly flat island, surrounded by ‘million-dollar coral reefs’; and Tourism generates considerable revenue for the country.

The Portuguese first sighted Barbados in the year 1536 while sailing to Brazil and referred to the island as ‘Los Barbados’ or the ‘Bearded Ones’, probably after the fig trees found on the island which had an uncanny beard-like resemblance. These trees can become incredibly large and are a natural habitat for birds, bats, and monkeys.

Barbados became an independent state in the Commonwealth realm, with Britain’s Elizabeth-II as Queen of Barbados, on 30 November 1966. Centuries ago, in 1625, an expedition for King James-I of England first claimed Barbados, when his ships arrived on its shores. A settlement was established two years later.

Now, after nearly 400 years, Barbados severed its last remaining bonds to the British Monarchy. In October 2021, Dame Sandra Mason was elected by Parliament to become the first President of Barbados. On 30 November 2021, Mason replaced Queen Elizabeth as head of state, with Barbados transitioning to an independent Republic.

This week, in a ceremony on Monday evening, Prince Charles, who was present to ‘hand over the country’, acknowledged the ‘appalling atrocity of slavery’ – a black mark in the history of Barbados, as the nation removed his mother, The Queen, as head of state and inaugurated its first President.

The vibrant celebratory ceremony also showcased Barbadian music and dance, but a highlight was singer Rihanna, who hails from Barbados, being made a national hero and told to keep shining like a diamond and bring honour to the young Republic, by her works and actions. If diamonds are forever, this this original diamond forever belongs to The Republic of Barbados.

France Goes Bananas

This week, the late Josephine Baker, Professional Entertainer-French Dancer, Civil Rights Activist, and World War-II Spy, became the first black woman to be inducted into the Pantheon in Paris, the highest honour that France bestows. The Pantheon is reserved as the final resting place for just dozens of France’s greatest, including Victor Hugo, Voltaire, and Marie Curie.

Josephine Baker famously sang that she had two loves: “J’ai Deux Amours” – my country and Paris. They heard it, and loved it.

In a moving ceremony, led by French President Emmanuel Macron who called Josephine an ‘exceptional figure embodying the French spirit, the award was bestowed upon her. At the request of her surviving children, Josephine’s remains will continue to stay in Monaco where she was buried. Instead, a plaque was placed on a cenotaph containing soil from the four places dearest to her heart: St Louis, Paris, her Castle-Les Milandes, and Monaco.

Josephine was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States (US), grew up fatherless, and in poverty. Between the ages of eight and ten she was out of school, helping to support her family, working as a laundry maid; as a live-in domestic help; as a waitress in a Cafe; as a street child in the slums of St. Louis, sleeping in cardboard shelters, scavenging for food in garbage cans; and making a living with street-corner dancing.

On one such street she met her first husband, Willie Wells, who she married at age 13; however, the marriage lasted less than a year. Following her divorce from Wells, she found work with a street performance group called the Jones Family Band. In 1921, at age 15 she married William Howard Baker but left him when her vaudeville troupe was booked into a New York City venue. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925. It was during this time that she began to see significant success in her career as a dancer. And she continued to use Baker as her last name for the rest of her life, as she was, by that time, best known professionally as Josephine Baker.

As a child Josephine developed a taste for the flamboyant that was later to make her famous. In her teen years she struggled to have a healthy relationship with her mother, who did not want her to become an entertainer, but she persisted.

As an adolescent she became a dancer, touring at 16 with a dance troupe from Philadelphia. In 1923, she joined the chorus in a road company performing the musical comedy ‘Shuffle Along’. And then moved to New York City, where she advanced steadily through the show ‘Chocolate Dandies’ on Broadway and the floor show of the Plantation Club.

In 1925, she went to Paris to dance at the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in La Revue Negre and introduced her unique ‘Danse Sauvage’ – an uninhibited, wild, exotic and spontaneous dance – to France. She went on to become one of the most popular music-hall entertainers in France and achieved star billing at the Folies-Bergere Cabaret Hall. She revelled in Paris life, free of the institutionalised racism and segregation at home in America.

Josephine met immediate success on the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees and became the darling of Parisian society. People flocked to see her perform the jaw-dropping banana dance where she appeared semi-nude, wearing the famed banana belt skirt, or in simmering sequins, in the city’s night spots. Her costume, consisting of only a short skirt of artificial bananas and a beaded necklace, became an iconic image and a symbol both of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties. Her show, embodying the colonial time’s racist stereotypes about African women, caused both condemnation and celebration.

Josephine became French by her marriage to industrialist Jean Lion in 1937, and made France her home, dividing her time between Paris and a fairytale castle – Les Milandes- which she bought in the southwest of the country.

When World War II began, she joined the French Resistance, famously saying “I want to give myself to France, do what you want with me.” Her fame served her well-she was able to pass coded messages in her music scores without being stopped. She hid Resistance fighters and fleeing Jews in her castle. She had a pilot’s licence at a time when it was exceptional for women to become pilots, and became a lieutenant in the French Air Forces’ female Auxiliary Corps, gaining military decorations. She worked as a spy for France’s wartime-leader-in exile, General Charles de Gaulle.

Josephine also fought against racism in the US, becoming active in the civil rights movement and traveled several times to the US to participate in civil rights demonstrations. Throughout her life she fought for freedom and equality of all.

Josephine adopted 12 children from all over the world from various backgrounds, creating what she called ‘a rainbow tribe’ to embody her ideal of ‘universal fraternity.’ This was to become an inspiration for Hollywood Actor Angelina Jolie who also adopted children from all over the world, in addition to having her own.

Josephine Baker retired from the stage in 1956, but to maintain Les Milandes she had to return to starring in Paris in 1959. In 1968, her estate was sold to satisfy accumulated debt. Then Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco, a good friend of hers, stepped-in to help by providing for Josephine’s children by the Red Cross, and setting her up in a villa outside of Monaco.

She continued to perform occasionally and rebuilt her career. But in 1975, four days after the triumphant opening of a comeback tour, and during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut, she fell into a coma and passed away from a brain haemorrhage. She was buried in Monaco. Princess Grace stood front and centre at Josephine’s burial, a true testament to their friendship.

Oh, what an extraordinary story; rising-up from abject street poverty in America to receiving France’s highest honour! There was no American Dream for her; it was only the French Dance-all the way to her grave.

Get Vaccinated with the Word of The Year

We have used it tirelessly over the past year, even had a couple of jabs of it, Vaccine has been the clear ‘Word Of The Year’ according to dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster.

Last year, 2020, without ay effort, or protest, Merriam-Webster’s chose Pandemic. Not to be left behind, lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary chose ‘Vax’ as their word of the year, due to an explosion in the use of related terms such as ‘vaxxed’ and ‘anti-vaxxer’.

The word ‘vax’ was first recorded in English in 1799, with ‘vaccinate’ and ‘vaccination’ appearing a year later. All of these words find their root in the Latin word ‘vacca’, which means cow. This is because the English Scientist Edward Jenner discovered that cowpox, a mild infection that occurs in cows, can help protect people from smallpox. This was as far back as 1796. He pioneered the concept of vaccines including creating the smallpox vaccine- the world’s first ever vaccine. For many centuries, smallpox devastated mankind. And in these modern times we have learnt to beat such diseases thanks to the remarkable work of Edward Jenner who is called the Father of Immunology. His work is said to have saved more lives than the work of any other human.

I’m sure the ‘Virus’ must be jealous that being the cause of ‘Vaccine’ to get so popular it has been denied this word status. Or did ‘corona’ take it away? Hence it keeps coming back? Name it? Meanwhile, ‘variants’ are waiting on the next page.

China: Kill the Messenger?

Peng Shuai is one of China’s most recognisable sports stars, a three time Olympian.

In November, she publicly accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into sex at his home, in a social media post. She said, ‘even if it is like an egg hitting a rock, or if I am like a moth drawn to the flame, I will tell the truth about you’.

Following the accusation Peng disappeared from public view. And several tennis players began to worry about her on social media using the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stepped in and after a 30-minute video call in the presences of a Chinese Sports Official and IOC Official declared her to be ‘fine’ – I think that’s a dangerous word!And Peng said she would like her privacy to be respected. Now we know for sure!

This week, The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong. The decision was rooted in a lack of transparency by Chinese Officials, with Peng Shuai obviously not be allowed to communicate freely and being pressurised to contradict the allegations she made. This tells about the risks Players and Staff could face in China if events were held in the Country in such an atmosphere. Well, that’s China living inside its Great Wall.

Contrast this with the United States: Ex- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who had to step down from Office, over sexual allegations, brought down his brother, Chris Cuomo, a CNN News Anchor, as well. This week CNN suspended Chris Cuomo indefinitely as he was found to be helping his brother combat and rub-off the allegations.

More skirtful, banana stories coming up in the weeks ahead, wall and rub yourself with World Inthavaaram.