India

These are just some random rants about what I have been thinking about. Watching this podcast episode by Sangtar kind of pushed me to scribble it down here. So should the culture not change ? How do we decide that what all bits should stay as they are and what all bits should change ? Also, who decides that ? We have seen that black and white photograph showing a traditional Punjabi kitchen. Such kitchens had arrangement for letting the smoke out but of course wood and all the stuff that was used wasn’t a clean fuel like modern day things including gas and electric stoves. Since mostly women worked in the kitchen, they were the ones most impacted by this. That photograph looks nice and nostalgic but should it not have gone anyway ensuring better health for all who work in the kitchen ? ...

It is a difficult topic to write about so I am just going to jot down some thoughts that come to mind when I think about this whole movement. Our generation hasn’t really seen anything like this in their lives. The scale, the way it was organised and sustained is an example in itself. Now when their demands have been met and they are going back, it is also a lesson on how to organise a protest and put your point of view across without resorting to any unconstitutional ways or means. Lakhs of people came together to protest with a single agenda; asking for rollback of laws and a law on MSP. It went on for an year and it is not easy to sustain a protest for that long. Imagine lakhs of people living on the roads and to arrange for all their daily needs. It takes some spirit to be able to sustain it. Few things that i think have been unique with this protest: ...

This is from the Facebook memories of 2014. 2-3 days ago I was listening to AIR FM Gold channel and there was a letter from someone from some remote place in Kashmir. The gentleman insisted in the letter that DO read the name of the place from where I am writing. I couldn’t stop myself from noticing the difference. On one side we in the metros are living this always-on-run life and on the other side there was someone who wanted his place’s name to be read loudly so that people know about it ! How simple life must be at that place ! ...

Read day 20 So the lockdown has been extended till 3rd May. There are going to be some relaxations area wise, starting from 20th Apr depending upon if there have been no new cases in the area and many other conditions. But still we need to be careful. Countries all over the world are struggling with it. Once it gets out of hands, it will become impossible to control the spread. ...

Read day 19 So there is still no clarity about the lockdown extension at this moment. The number of cases is touching 10000. Hope it gets extended in some shape as still we haven’t able to flatten the curve. There are new hotspots being found every few days. It needs to be extended in some shape as otherwise the situation may get out of control. Let’s see what decision the government takes. ...

Read day 18 Today started on a fun note. A friend planned to have a Zoom call with all the buddies from my first company. It was fun. 7-8 people scattered all over the world were on call. So much to talk about. Feels so good to see everyone together on one call. In the afternoon there was a message from Kent guys that someone will visit for servicing the RO ! Wow ! Canceled the request as got it done already. ...

Read day 17 The number of cases is still on the rise. The lockdown may get extended which is actually a good thing. That is the only way to keep things in control. Two states Kerala and Punjab has already extended it. The groceries we ordered from BigBasket some 4-5 days ago were delivered today. Few items were missing because of being out of stock but still good enough. Got some of the essentials we needed. May need to plan another order as there are no immediate delivery slots available. But problem is that you prepare your cart and by the time you will go to place the order either some of the items will be out of stock or the delivery slots will become unavailable. The challenge these days. But still these online services have been doing good work. Helps people stay home. Milk and Grocery deliveries have been fine most of the time except initial one or two days of the lockdown. ...

Read day 16 So it was a holiday today. Managed to watch Adab Mutaiyaran on Prime. Good movie. Sonam Bajwa gets the Amritsar accent really right. That is the most fun part of it. It is a long weekend but we have been at home for weeks now anyway. So doesn’t feel much different. The same thing feels amazing if you have been going to office for 4 days. That time will come back. Yeah ! ...

Read day 15 It was a really busy day in office. Problem with Work from Home is that you end up working for many more number of hours. If you are in office, it ends at some time but when you are at home, you are always around your laptop and one or another things keeps popping up. But another aspect that has become clear due to this lockdown is that so many people can actually work from home and there is really no need for them to go to office. Some companies just don’t want to give this flexibility to their employees. Enabling work from home for some employees, even on alternate days can help in a lot of things especially traffic. Also it saves the travel time for people and people can utilize that time for their personal stuff. ...

Read day 14 Since yesterday health guys are visiting each flat in the society, inquiring about the details like how many people are living in the house, if anyone has returned from any other city/country recently. Collecting data is good. Makes things easier in case there are any issues reported from the area. Also the UP govt took the decision to enforce stricter version of lockdown at all places that are hotspots. In those areas, the movement will be very very restricted and people will not be allowed to go out unless there is an emergency. Another way to contain the spread. ...