Our ongoing Tryst with Destiny

Flag hoisted at our apartment in Mumbai today

On 14-15 August 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru spoke at the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi.

Watching the Solar Eclipse 10 years ago

Solar eclipses take place every year, often more than once. The moon comes between the earth and the sun, blocking the sun’s rays. If this happens during the daytime, it becomes dark on earth, almost like dusk, confusing the birds and everyone else as well.

Darkness at noon

The pool that changed swimming

July 9, 1976 was the turning point of swimming in Karnataka. The swimming pool in Baldwin Girls’ High School (BGHS), Bangalore was inaugurated, and looking back, it definitely impacted competitive swimming in India as well.

Back in the 1970s, there were only a handful of swimming pools in Bangalore for the public. The Corporation Pool at Corporation Circle, a 30 yard pool, was one of the most popular ones. It’s gone now, and buildings occupy the place where it once stood. Kensington Pool, next to Ulsoor Lake, is another old summer time recreation spot, still a sought-after swimming space, especially because it’s a 50 metre pool, ideal for competitive training.

Donating blood in Covid times

Is it safe to donate blood? This is the first question that comes to mind, when everyone is talking about social distancing.

Before Covid-19 itself, Indians have never been generous with their blood, and mostly donated only if it was required by someone known. (The WHO recommends that a country have blood reserve units equal to 1% of its population. At the national level, India was short of 1.9 million units of blood, as per data presented to the Lok Sabha in March 2018.)

Likely extension of lockdown

With about 3 days to go for the 3-week lockdown to end, the number of COVID-19 positive cases in India has crossed 7,000 with close to 250 fatalities. The last few days have seen a surge, with the worrying thing being that we have cases being detected after death. The states of Odisha and Punjab have extended the lockdown till 30th April, and this is likely to happen in other states / nationally as well. We’ll know soon.

Face masks in the time of COVID-19

In the current days of COVID-19, one of the items in high demand is face masks. After all, a virus that transmits through droplets and attacks the lungs, would be best kept out if your nose and mouth are covered.

While the N95 face mask is touted as having good filtering efficiency, the commonly available face masks are not fool-proof. This means that they are not a guarantee against the virus, but they obviously would offer some protection to you (if you are well), and to others (if you are unwell), rather than nothing at all.

Face masks are an integral part of Japanese life. It is common to see people of all ages, on the streets and on public transport, wearing a mask if they have a cold or cough. It is not so much for themselves as for the people they come in contact with. The intention is not to pass whatever infection they have to anyone else.

Tokyo, November 2012

On the new Tejas Express

“Faster, premium and state of the art train travel” is what the Tejas Express offers. Commencing 19th January 2020, this is the second private train in India, run by IRCTC.

On 4th Feb 2020, I caught this new train no. 82901 at Borivali, the first of its six stops between Mumbai Central and Ahmedabad stations, to my destination Vadodara (for the 3rd National Masters Games). The 362 km would be covered in 4 hours. [The six stops – Borivali, Vapi, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Nadiad]

Modi-Xi, an opportunity lost

Mamallapuram, 11th October 2019

Single-use plastic was certainly not discussed. Though staring them in the face, it was obviously not on their minds as Modi-Xi sipped the delicious tender coconut water.

We lost a great opportunity to replace those plastic straws with steel ones, and show the world that we’re serious about reducing the garbage burden on this earth.

A famous victory, 36 years ago

Lord’s cricket ground, 25th June 1983.

Chasing a meagre target of 184 to win, the West Indies looked invincible. Our Indian team weren’t able to bat though the 60 overs. A required run rate of just over 3 per over was really peanuts for a batting line-up in which even the fast-bowler tail-enders could hit any bowler out of the stands.

In India, we were thrilled that our team had reached the final. At 50/2, the West Indies were cruising. Hopeful though we were at the start of the match, at this stage I think many of us felt that the Prudential World Cup was out of reach and it was inevitable that the West Indies would take it for the third successive time.

Birds spotted in Europe (Part 2)

Read Part 1 here.

The King’s Garden is the oldest park in Copenhagen, established in the 17th century, abutting the Rosenborg Castle of King Christian IV. On our first morning in Copenhagen, we spent some time walking through this 12-hectare park, taking in the sights and smells of the Danish spring.

King’s Garden, Copenhagen

Hooded Crow

Here and there, strutting around on the green grass of the King’s Garden with authority were these birds that behaved like our Indian House Crows, but they looked different – dominant light grey plumage with glossy black restricted to head, throat, wings and tail. They were bigger but with the same boldness, not hesitating to walk close to humans. We didn’t see many crows during the rest of our trip.