My blog is a space where I save things that I think I may want to remember and revisit sometime in the future. So today I have a few picks of the past couple of weeks.
One of my friends sent this picture the other day. My mom and brother are both in this class photo of Std 2, Baldwin Boys’ High School. Mom’s friend from teacher’s training college fell terminally ill and mom went to substitute for her. She ended up teaching for most of the academic year.
My lovely teenaged niece Maya has started blogging. Her first post is a deep poem that can be read here.
She must be taking after our aunt Leela who writes and also recites poetry. Here she is reciting one of her own poems.
It was only in early April that I realised that Covid was seriously falling on us, full steam. A friend in Delhi was searching for blood plasma (yes, it’s supposedly not a recommended therapy, but still being used), one in Mumbai was searching for oxygen and another in Bhopal was searching for a hospital bed for his father whose O2 was dropping. It’s been several weeks and though the situation is better in the cities, everyday, we hear of someone we know who has succumbed to the disease. A neighbour, my son’s first teacher, a colleague at my last work place, a friend’s father. Young and old. Every single day.
Added to this, is the vaccination scene. We are short of vaccines and the vaccine policy has created a new set of problems.
Trying to book a vaccination slot online is a sport in itself. I haven’t needed one for myself, but I’ve been helping others. It takes perseverance and hours of patience, over a few days. And when you get it, you feel like you’ve won the jackpot. Crazy!
If you have access to a vaccine, do consider taking it. Unless of course, you are convinced that the virus cannot harm you. Being an anti-vaxxer is really a person choice and best kept to oneself and not propagated.
The rural parts of India seem to be getting devastated. People are upset about the coverage that shows our country in poor light, but hopefully these are the things that will shake our authorities out of denial.
Shake our authorities out of denial?
There is no end in sight. There is no overall plan for the future. But how did we reach this state? Here is a neat analysis of the situation by mathematician Murad Banaji. In it he looks at different aspects – historical, medical, political, mathematical, etc., to decide if we could have done better.
All said and done, weak science and compromised scientific institutions were at least partly responsible for the complacency and mistakes that allowed the second wave to take off so dramatically and tragically. Independent and expert scientific advisers might have been able to push for early action to avert the crisis. Such action could, at least, have bought some time and lessened the toll.
– Murad Banaji
Talking of scientific temper, I saved this Whatsapp forward…
My cousin Dr Nandan Gautam, is working closely with Covid patients in Birmingham and is part of the special clinic set up for the treatment of Long Covid. Read more here.
To end on a lighter note…
Take care!
Pictures are all from social media.
arathimy 