My Musings

 Musings…  I am appalled by the steps taken by US President Donald Trump and his ally Israel PM & War Criminal Benjamin Netanyahu in the Middle East.  First they target and kill the Supreme Leader of a sovereign state Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and killing along with him majority of his cabinet, including hid infant granddaughter.  Then Israel, already under International Criminal Court scrutiny for killing infants and children, kill more than 180 children according to latest reports, by bombing a school in Tehran.  USA and Israel had blood on their hands and are giving flimsy reasons for starting the war. The irony of the Department of Peace and the Peace treaty that US President Trump initiated, stands !  If a regime change is what USA/ Israel wants in Iran, to install a dummy proxy government in Iran, then they should look at Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria where they installed Proxy governments. In these states peace is still at arms length with no vi...

  3rd April 2022 Musings……. SriLanka Burning  What can gross mismanagement of the economy give you ? Well the answer is Sri Lanka.  Once upon a time, this island nation was considered a budding tourist destination with a vibrant democracy. All this seems to have changed for the worse within a few years.   Sri Lanka’s history as we all know has been a chequered one.    There was long years of civil war between the Singhalese speaking Government and the Tamil speaking LTTE in broadly speaking terms.  The centre and southern part of Sri Lanka is predominantly Singhalese speaking natives who form the majority and hold power in every government. The Tamil speaking minority is restricted to the North of Sri Lanka including in the district of Jaffna, and form the minority.  This internal strife lasted for years and there seemed no respite. We Indians can never forget this as we lost one of our most    dynamic Prime Ministers Shri. Rajiv Ga...

  31st March 2022 Musings……. Russians and the letter Z  The letter Z has now become a graphic rallying point of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  It is interesting to note that the letter Z was initially painted in white on Thanks and military vehicles headed to Ukraine from Russia.  Anyone supporting Russia in its invasion of Ukraine have been seen wearing the letter on clothes as badges including influencers and politicians.  The letter Z has often appeared on social media with the hashtag #СвоихНеБросаем meaning " we dont abandon our own " .    This symbol has become so much popular that, a picture of terminally ill children from a cancer ward joined to create the letter Z within the hospital compound, and the picture went viral on the internet.  The Russian Ministry of defense has since explained on Instagram that the letter Z represents a number of slogans that begin with the Russian word "for" (Za). " For Victory", "For Peace".  Symbols...

  1st Feb 2022   Musings…….  We all watched the other day, how Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest Tennis players of our times lift the Australian Open.  This was Rafael Nadal’s 21st Grand Slam Tournament win and surpassed both Roger Federer and Novak Djokowich both holding a record 20 Grand Slam wins.  The Wimbledon Tournament in London played on grass, the French Open on Clay, The US and Australian Opens played on hard court, are the four main Grand Slam tournaments and is winning these is considered the epitome of Tennis world.  All three greats have achieved career grand slams, which means winning all four of the major grand slams.  This years Australian open final was special in a way as this was one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed in Tennis History.  In fact Rafael Nadal, the Spaniard has become the only player to win from being two sets down in the Open Era.  The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis. It began in 19...

  25th Jan 2022 Musings……. Ukraine  So what actually is Russia’s problem with Ukraine ? To know this we must go back a bit into History, and we must know that Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire for centuries before becoming a Soviet republic. Later in 1991 it broke away as the USSR broke up and gained independence in 1991.  Since then Ukraine has been trying to shed its Russian imperial legacy and the current issue is a continuation of this of simply put.  In 2014 when then Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych decided to reject an association agreement with the European Union in favour of closer ties with Moscow, it led to mass protests and led to his removal.  Then Russia had responded to the rebuttal by annexing Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and supporting a separatist rebellion that broke out in Donbas - East Ukraine. Ukrainian separatists hold, as we speak, the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk both bordering Russia.  Russian President Vladi...

 Musings……. Power of the Common Man  The Farmers bill being repealed by the Modi led Central government comes as no surprise. The crucial states of Punjab and UP goes to polls in February 2022 and its results will mostly decide the mood of the Opposition for 2024.  The three contentious Farmers  bills were wrought with problems right from the beginning. From its hasty implementation through ordinances to its passing in Parliament without debate through a voice vote, the bill was bulldozed by the Government.  Public sentiment was against the bill right from the beginning. However, the central government which pushed through Demonetisation and GST, became complacent.  Both GST and Demonetisation did humongous damage to the economy, and was deemed by every expert on Economy as a policy failure. Still the Government survived it through their propaganda machinery and agenda setting.  This time too the Government would have thought it could hush any dissent ...

  Musings……. Vinod Rai  What can be said about this civil servant. Today he has tendered his unconditional apology to court in a defamation case filed by a Congress leader.    To be more specific former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam had filed a defamation case against Vinod Rai, then CAG for alleging that the ex MP had pressured him to drop then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s name from his report.  Vinod Rai a Kerala cadre IAS officer, rose to National stardom when he as CAG reported on the 2G and coal block allocations. This led to the UPA- II government to be portrayed as corrupt.  What subsequently followed is anyone’s guess. Congress led government was comprehensively voted out in 2014, leading to the rise of Narendra Modi to the helm.  Since 2014 India is under majoritarian, right wing, Hindutva led NDA rule. What has it produced ? Blunder over blunder right from Demonetisation to botched up GST law, to mismanagement of the economy to huge price ris...

 Musings……. My Gandhi  Gandhiji has always been an invisible presence in my house. Or so I think !  My childhood was spent in New Delhi where I did my schooling. In our Government quarters there we used to have a huge portrait of Gandhiji. This is one of my earliest memory of Gandhi.  Coming from a Congress family ( such families are dwindling nowadays ) I was introduced very early to Gandhiji and his works.  In junior school there used to be plays where students dressed up as Gandhi and other freedom fighters and had to come up on stage to read a famous quote from these freedom fighters. I never got a chance to dress up as Gandhiji, though once I was Nehru !  Civics and History was my favourite subjects in school and the Freedom struggle was one of my favourite topics. I was so good at it that I used to wait for History class in school. On the contrary Maths was like my enemy and I dreaded Maths period.  So early on itself I was in awe of Gandhi and h...

 Musings……. Our Union Government has announced the National Digital Health Mission recently.  The most important aspect that this writer saw in the Mission is that citizens would be provided a voluntary Health ID card.  The aforementioned Health ID card will be a 14 digit number which will contain details of every hospital visit, every report, every test conducted by the person and also details of medication and treatment. Hence, this will grant the person freedom from carrying around his/her report.  The Health ID would be created using Aadhar card or Mobile number.    However, do we really require a Health ID ? What would be the cost of computerising the whole medical infrastructure in the Public system starting from the Government Medical college to the Primary health Centre uniformly all over the country ?  Not arguing that computerisation is not required, and if it happens along with this scheme, well and good.  However, are we prioritising c...

 Musings……. Afghanistan  Why no one has absolute power in Afghanistan  Since the meek and disgusting withdrawal of the USA from Afghanistan and the subsequent swift capture of power in majority of provinces, including Kabul by the Taliban, is the world seeing a major power shift ?  Also why does no one have absolute power in Adghanistan ?  Well the answer to this seems to be in the varied Ethnolinguistic groups in Afghanistan. Added to this is the topography and the challenge to guard its large borders with Iran, Pakistan, PoK, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and a small patch of land with China.  The Demography of Afghanistan population is as follows -  - [ ] Pashtun (42%) - The Pashtuns majorly occupy the Eastern and Western Afghanistan, the Paghman valley, Badakhshan and Herat.  Major Pashtun leaders include Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Gul Agha Sherzai and Abdul Rab Sayyaf. All Pashtun leaders have good relations with Pakistan apparently and not ...

 Musings……. Bhagwan Krishnan  Like every child born into a early 90s Kerala, myself grew up hearing stories from mythology, and like most children I was mesmerised and was at awe. One of the reasons for my reading habit I will attribute to my keen interest in mythology.  Armed with the imagination of a child, my limits were boundless. Besides reading, A huge part of my appetite for mythology was fulfilled through the Mahabharata Serial which aired every Sunday mornings in Doordarshan.  Among all these characters ,needless to say my favourite was Lord Krishna.  From being a naughty child to growing up to become one of the most talented warriors the world has ever seen, I listened with fascination to Krishna’s deeds and his mischiefs.  There are many facets to Lord Krishna as far as my limited understanding tells me -  The rishis called him he full embodiment of the divine, the totality, because all that a human could be is in Krishna.  He is simult...

 Musings....... Long Covid  The unpredictability of Covid symptoms is a matter of concern for patients as well as the medical community alike. The general symptoms include body ache, fatigue, headache, fever, loss of smell, taste and breathlessness.  It is being now increasingly seen that many patients now experience extended symptoms even after 14 days - the average time it takes for body to fight off the virus.  Patients may develop symptoms even 6months to 1 year after recovery. This is known as Long Covid.  According to ICMR, if a person has symptoms 4-12 weeks after testing negative for Covid, it should be treated as post-Covid Syndrome ( PCS).  If after 12 weeks symptoms continue to reappear, patient should do an RT-PCR test.  If positive then they are reinfected with Covid.  If negative, then it should be treated as Long Covid.  Two important pathogenic mechanisms of Covid are -  - [ ] Inflammation -  Inflammation is a natura...

 Musings....... Iran has elected its eighth president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that ended the Pahlavi Dynasty.  As one may know Iran is a theocratic state with partial elective democracy.  At the top of the governance pyramid is the supreme leader - currently Ayatollah Ali Khaneneni who is in power since 1989 when his predecessor Ayatollah Khomeini died.  The Supreme Leader is the commander in chief of all armed forces and security services, appoints the heads of radio and TV networks and the Judiciary. He also elects half of 12 member Guardian Council.  The Guardian Council (GC) members vet candidature for all elected positions including the President, the 290 member Parliament and the 88 member Assembly of Experts.  The GC also ensures all legislation passed is in conformity with the Sharia laws.  In case there is difference of opinion, the matter is referred to a 45-member Expediency Council - which is again chosen by the Supreme Leader....

 Musings....... Global Minimum Tax  The recently concluded Group of Seven (G7) meeting of the worlds advanced economies gives hope.  The G7 has reached a landmark agreement to pursue higher global taxation on multinational companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.  So why do we need a Global Minimum Tax? The multinational companies have been shifting profits (and tax revenues) to low-tax countries. Income from drug patents, software and royalties on intellectual property have been migrated to tax havens- to avoid paying higher taxes in their traditional home countries.  Originally it was the OECD ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) that has been coordinating tax negotiations of over 140 countries for years !  Rules for taxing cross- border digital services and curbing tax base erosion.  The OECD and G20 countries aim to reach a consensus on both these issues.  The Global Minimum Tax rate would apply to overseas p...

 Musings.......  June 5 is World Environment Day  Considered one of the biggest awareness campaigns of United Nations (UN) for Mother Nature, - Reimagine. Recreate. Restore is this years theme !  According to United Nations, the human population must resolve to bring about little changes in its lifestyle that can help restore the natural order of things.  This year we will see the UN launch the “ UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”. It is a 10 year plan for the authorities to think on the path of stopping the degradation of ecosystem.  FORESTS -  It is said that the world loses a football pitch of forests every three seconds.  Trees are the common factor in any kind of forest.  Ecosystem services provided by forest that are gifted to humans include-  - [ ] Climate regulation  - [ ] Water and air purification - [ ] Precipitation reduction and  - [ ] Nutrient cycling  Here lies the importance of forests and the need to prese...

 Musings....... English language in the Covid era (2020- 2021) Covidiot- A someone who ignores health and safety guidelines intended to prevent spread of COVID19  Superspreader- A person or event responsible for transmitting an infectious disease to a large number of people  Quarantini- A day or nighttime cocktail used to unwind amid remote work and covid lockdowns  Social Distancing- set of measures to prevent the spread of Covid  Germpod/ Quaranteam/ Bubble- A small group of people who follow the same rules and standards for behaviour and can thereby spent time together. Eg. IPL bubble  Blursday- The fuzzy merging of time since the pandemic shut down so much of the world, making it difficult to determine what day of the week it is  On Mute- popularised by Zoom calls around the world, when a fellow video caller is speaking without microphone on.  Simp- Popularised on TikTok, for men overly accommodating or devoted to somebody ( usually a women ) ...

 Musings....... B. 1. 617 This seeming incoherent set of alphabet and numbers is literally the reason for the so called second wave of the Pandemic in India.  Believe it or not, B. 1. 617 is the name given to the Double Mutant strain which is now the prevalent strain in India, according to National Institute of Virology (NIV) data from 10 states.  The B. 1. 617 variant of SARS- CoV-2 carries two mutations E484Q and L452R.  The two mutations are found in the virus spike protein, which helps to bind the virus to the human cells receptors and gain entry into the host cell.  The E484Q and L452R mutations have been found separately in many variations, but now have been found together for the first time in India making it a double mutant.  The E484Q mutation is similar to mutations found in UK and the South African variant.  The L452R mutation is found in California variant which is a fast spreading variant.  The mutation has the inherent capability to ...

 Musings....... The world woke up on February 1st 2021 with the news that the democratically elected government of Myanmar led by the National League of Democracy (NLD) was deposed by the Tatmadaw ( Myanmar Military ).  The Tatmadaw has declared a state of emergency for a year and all power has been vested in the Commander in Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlang.  The military coup d’état occurred the day before Myanmar Parliament was due to swear its members elected in the elections held in November 2020.  Subsequently as we know, President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi were detained.  The coup was announced on the military owned Myawaddy TV station when a news presenter cited the 2008 constitution which allows the military to declare a national emergency.  As a result, Twenty four ministers and deputies were deposed, the 2020 General election results annulled and swearing in of members to the assembly was annulled.  NLD in the N...