My Little Log Book

On this first anniversary of Nana, I find the memories of him starting to unclog, as if they were stuck somewhere down there in the system, and refusing to come out as memories, tales waiting to be told and retold by him. But now he can’t verify them. Being his daughter, I was subjected to some fierce protectiveness and love (not that his sons were spared the same). A tale he loved to tell and which I distinctly remember, is how I once cried because a teacher hit me in class. I cried at home. The next day he was in the classroom and asking me which teacher hit me, while I pointed at her. I don’t know who was more mortified, the teacher or the six year old me. But nonetheless, I think I was relieved because I do remember she was a terror. I was shifted to another section. When I first went to school by cycle, he would reach there as the bell rang and ride by me on his scooter!!! The same continued when I came back home after hostel. He would be at the bus stop to fetch me ...

Here are 4 effects, in my opinion, the Corona Virus is going to have on the World on the aftermath of the crisis, while editing our lifestyle goals. 1.  Going on a cruise . That is one lifestyle goal many of us have. Go on a World cruise once I retire/ once I have saved enough, once the kids grow up. Not any longer though. Many cruise ships are still stranded on the high seas and are being shown on the Corona tracker as amongst those most affected. As it is, Cruising is a dangerous event. To put ones life in a floating vessel that is a speck on the wide high seas with not a ship/soul in sight, is surrendering oneself to the mighty ocean. And now the holiday makers are stranded with no country wanting them to land on their shores. The passengers are confined to their cabins. Of course one can say it is the ultimate social distancing and no worse than what most of us have to go through. But honestly I would prefer to do it with my feet firmly on the ground. As per a CNN report ...

Dr. Li Wenliang, The great humanitarian doctor who alerted the World to the severity of  Corona, succumbed to the same while saving others. In a vivid illustration of how the virus has affected those in the frontline fighting it, the medical workers, the para military staff, Dr Wenliang contracted the virus while working in the Wuhan Central hospital. Dr Li Wenliang alerted the World to the Corona Virus as early as December 30, 2019. He was dubbed a whistle blower. However the severity of the virus would have come out anyways considering its impact. Dr. Wenliang detected the severity of the virus early and messaged his colleagues to wear protective clothing in the early days of the disease. He apparently found several patients with a SARs like virus who had frequented a local seafood market. He was subsequently admonished by the authorities for spreading rumours and apparently made to sign a document to that effect! Dr. Li was just 34 years when he succumbed to Corona virus...

When Dr, Marcello Natali came back from retirement to fight the Corona Virus and be a a part of the country's overwhelmed health care system, he had little idea it would be his last fight. The Doctor from Codogno came back from retirement when the deadly virus hit his small Italian town. Codogno emerged as a cluster for the virus when an Italian Cruise ship landed in its backyard, a ship which had an infected patient. Dr. Natali's father was also a doctor. Before Dr Natali died, he brought to the attention of the country, the pressure on the Health Care system by the sudden onslaught of the virus. He talked about health care persons having to work without basic latex gloves! As a result maximum number of healthcare professionals have been affected in Italy in their fight against Corona. But this speaks more about the deadliness of the virus as it hits upon countries after countries, than the preparedness. For a relatively comfortable European town, this virus came as an avala...

Now that one is trapped with #coronavirus and #janatalockdown, a good time to go back to blogging. I find that the last post i wrote was right before my China trip. Yes, I had been to a trip to China in early December. To Kunming and Sanya. What a change since then. What a change for China, what a change for the World. We are in a WWIII situation since then. China, especially Hubei province has had a lockdown, and more importantly come out of it. Chinese Doctors are helping fight the disease, whose epicentre has shifted to Europe. Will India be the next epicentre? We all are hoping not, keeping fingers crossed and staying away from each other and work. Why call it WWIII? All countries are fighting, all are on lockdown, and hundreds of people are dying daily. This war has happened without a shot being fired (though seeing a forwarded video of people stocking up on firearms, makes one think how long the situation will last!) As peopl are falling off the streets and dying in beautif...

The excting day is almost here. We are soon going to Sanya and Kunming in China. While I was initially not too enthusiastic about the trip, I find I am look forward to it quite a lot now! The trip will be a short one with 2 days at Kunming and 3 days at Sanya. What I am having trouble planning is what to do with the luggage after checking out from the hotel. Hotels checkout seems to be at 12 pm. Our flights are mostly late evening. We can dump it in a cab while we take a final cruise around the city I guess. Are the cabs reliable? No idea. Is the luggage dispensable? I guess so! Easy way to dispose of 15 kgs of clothes I guess ... Will miss the suitcase of course :) But thats running away on a randon thought. The thing about trips is that, every trip is different! We have no idea at all what to expect from China. Having been there before with a much larger group a few years back, the trip was entirely different. We had submitted ourselves to a travel agent and every minute was pl...

Another day another cyclone. October 29th 1999. I was at XIMB. There was Xpressions (the Annual Fest) scheduled over the next few days. A perfect opportunity for me to go home to my toddler and spend a few days with him. Little did we guess the events of the next few days. Those were the days without mobile phones or constant weather reports, and analytics that have gone through 1000s of iterations to find the exact flow of a cyclone that is still 750 kms away. The wind started in the night. The rain started heavy. And it went on and on and on and some more. Over a period of 18 hours the winds over 150 km/hr, howling and the constant downpour didn't stop. The electricity was first to go, with the TV channels. Then, of course, the telephone lines and all communication. Our well-made terrace drainpipes weren't enough to keep off the rain. The stairs became a water cascade and we had a 2 storey waterfall running through the house middle of the day. At first, it was impossi...