Monday, December 20, 2021

Home town or hometown

One of the important functions of my job profile is to check the accuracy of facts and language.

To check facts, I do a lot of Googling so much so that the search engine, mistaking me for a robot, often makes me jump over human-verification hoops!

To check the accuracy of language, I turn to online dictionaries. 

When I began my career in the pre-computer era, we had just one dictionary on the desk, and all of us went by that. It used to be mostly Oxford.

Today, we have at least six well-known dictionaries that are just a click away. But sometimes that has only made the task difficult.

Though all of them give us the same meaning, there are inconsistencies, especially in usage. Here is a good example.

Home town or hometown?

These dictionaries say it's two words

Lexico

Longman 

Macmillan 

And these say it's one word

Cambridge

Collins

Dictionary.com

Lexico.com is a collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press. But still, Lexico and Dictionary.com differ.

Longman says it's two words in British English and one word in American English.

Macmillan and Collins say it can be either two words or one word.

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Back to square one

Days have been so hectic that blogs have taken a backseat. Got a day off today after nearly two weeks. During these days, I neither posted anything nor checked any post of my favourite bloggers. Will catch up soon.

Just as we are planning to go back to full-attendance in the office from December 1, emerges Omicron. Early days still. We only know that this variant has an unusually large number of mutations. We will get a clearer picture in the next week or so.

But borders are slamming shut again. It's at best a temporary measure, that will help slow down the spread of virus.

One day before Omicron was identified, India had announced that normal commercial flights will resume on December 15. Now, the plan has been revised, and a whole lot of regulations have been put in place for fliers from abroad from Dec 1. Even within India, states are making testing compulsory from travellers from some states where the numbers are high.

It will be too unrealistic to believe that one day Omicron won't surface in India. We have been doing extremely well with vaccinations, and our only hope is that the vaccine will be good against Omicron, at least keep the infection mild.


Monday, November 15, 2021

Work - home balance

Poland has made it illegal for companies, that have over 10 employees, to contact their employees during off-duty hours. If they do, they could be penalised. 

Apparently, a demand by some MPs to allow the employees the "right to disconnect" -- meaning they could switch off work-related devices outside office hours -- was rejected.

Another interesting initiative is that parents with small kids, can choose to work from home till their children turn eight years old. They don't have to seek permission from their bosses.

I doubt if any other nation has gone down the legal route this far to make WFH comfortable.

Quite a game-changer, considering COVID-19 has upended our lives in a variety of ways, and that work from home will continue even after we have banished the coronavirus.

Now everyone is saying Poland has the best bosses!

Source: Euronews, India Today, WION.



Sunday, October 31, 2021

Podcast: The Great Climate Conundrum

Image credit: Pixabay

Here is the link to the latest episode The Great Climate Conundrum of the Time and Tide and podcast. It's 12 minutes long.

If you prefer reading to listening, here's a gist of what's in the podcast episode:

This episode is about understanding climate change, what is making the earth warmer, what are different countries doing, what is net zero emissions target, and why India doesn’t believe in it.

The United Nations 26th Climate Change Conference is getting underway today at Glasgow in Scotland.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT

At the core is global warming -- a gradual rise in the overall temperature of the atmosphere. And it’s caused by greenhouse effect.

It's a process by which the earth's atmosphere traps the heat from the sun. That heat is good for all of us, plants and animals.

But now there is more heat on the earth than what is ideal. The last 30 years was the warmest period in more than 800 years. And the most recent decade, that from 2010 to 2019 was the warmest decade since 1850.

GREENHOUSE GASES

Why is the earth’s atmosphere getting warmer? It’s because of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide. 

Now this is how it all works:

  • Radiation from the sun reaches the earth.
     
  • Some of that is reflected back into space.
     
  • The rest of the sun's energy is absorbed by the land and the oceans, heating the Earth.

  • This heat radiates from the Earth towards space. 

  • Some of this heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, keeping the Earth warm enough to sustain life.

But many of our activities are increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases.

WHAT IS NET ZERO EMISSIONS TARGET

Every country is trying to achieve what is called net-zero emission. 

You have achieved net zero emission when the amount of greenhouse gases produced is less than the amount that has been removed. Many nations are aiming to achieve this by 2050.

WHY IS INDIA IS AGAINST NET ZERO TARGET

India says what is more important is to have a pathway to reduce such emissions. Mere announcement of a target means nothing. 

But India is doing its bit. Its environment minister Bhupendra Yadav said India was on track to achieve targets set at the 2015 Paris conference. 

INDIA'S CHALLENGE 

India relies a lot on processes that create greenhouse gases. For example, nearly 70% of electricity generation in India is coal based.

If India has to cut off or even reduce these processes it would have serious implications on the country's economy and on the general public unless there is a viable alternative to the conventional processes.

WHAT CAN YOU AND I DO 

Whatever politicians might do or might not, you and I can do our small bit to make this earth a habitable place. 

Reduce, reuse and recycle is one such step. 

Turning off electrical appliances like fans, air conditioners or lights when not being used is another simple step. 

Not wasting water, or walking instead of taking the elevator or the car.

They might not in themselves make a big difference. But if more people adopt these measures, it can cumulatively add up to quite a lot.

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

No vaccine hesitancy, and India is back to pre-Covid days, almost

Image courtesy: Pixabay

If I said that day-to-day life here in Bengaluru, and in the rest of India has returned to pre-Covid levels, it would not be an exaggeration at all.

People are all over place. Buses and metro are running packed. The traffic congestion is back. Commuting is taking time. 

The cap the government had imposed on the number of passengers domestic airlines could carry has been removed. 

Schools, colleges and offices have reopened though all students and employees are not on the premises.

THE DIFFERENCE   

Prior to 2020 there was no face mask, now there is. 

This is not the first time since Covid struck that people have streamed out on to the streets. 

What we are seeing now is very similar to what we saw late last year, when cases began to drop after the first wave. 

But back then no one was vaccinated. Now over 75% have got at least one dose. 

FIRST WAVE 

Let's rewind and see how Covid cases rose and fell in India.

In the first wave, India recorded the highest number of new daily cases on September 17 last year. That was 97,570.

Around six months later, it dipped to the lowest of 8,635 on February 2 this year. 

Then it began to climb steadily.

SECOND WAVE

Soon we realised that we were in the midst of the 2nd wave triggered by a new variant of the virus found first in India and which was later named Delta. 

The 100,000 new daily cases mark was crossed on April 7.

A week later, the 200,000 mark was crossed on April 15.

Another week later, the 300,000 mark was crossed on April 22.

About a week later, the 400,000 mark was crossed on May 1. 

On May 7, the number peaked at 414,188 new cases.

Today, it's about six months since that day, and the figure is 14,306 new cases. That's a sharp fall in a little over five months.

The numbers are expected to drop further. 

Though alongside, there is a fear that cases would rise because the crowds are back, most health experts say the spread of the infection would not be as severe as before. 

EVERYONE'S GETTING JABBED  

The hope -- that we might not see those horrendous days of March-April-May again -- is riding on the breakneck pace at which people are being vaccinated.

In India, there are three vaccines, and seven vaccine manufacturers. 

About 80% of the vaccines are Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, which incidentally is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer going by the number of doses produced and sold globally which is more than 1.5 billion doses.

The second one is Covaxin that has been indigenously developed, by Bharat Biotech.

The third vaccine is Russia's Sputnik V which is being supplied in India by two companies Dr. Reddy’s Lab and Panacea Biotec.

Other than these four companies, there are three more who are in various stages of developing a vaccine.

One is Zydus Cadila. They have got the drug regulator’s approval for conducting the 3rd phase trial of their two-dose vaccine called ZyCoV-D.

Biological E Ltd is developing a vaccine called Corbevax, and Gennova Biopharmaceutical are conducting trials of its vaccine. 

Besides the three vaccines, the government has given approval for emergency use to two American vaccines, that of Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

ONE-BILLION DOSES IN 278 DAYS 

On October 21, India recorded a statistical achievement of having administered one billion doses. This figure was achieved in 278 days. 

India rolled out its vaccination programme on January 16 this year. Though this averages out to around million doses a day, currently the pace is much faster, over 5 million doses a day. 

Out of the around 940 million adult population in India, 75% have got at least one dose, and 30% are fully vaccinated.

HIGH HOPES 

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hoping that by the end of the year, the entire adult population would be fully vaccinated. That's quite an ambitious target. Many think it's impossible.

But others feel it's not impossible, may be we might overshoot the deadline by a few months. 

The cause for optimism is the fact that the two manufacturers Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech have scaled up production considerably, and we will have more vaccines available soon.

WHY THERE IS NO VACCINE HESITANCY

What is really driving the high pace is the willingness of people to get themselves vaccinated. There is very minimal vaccine hesitancy in India. 

If at all people aren't getting vaccinated, it's because of laziness and lethargy rather than any ideology or beliefs.

So, if India is now really turning a corner, a lot of credit has to go to the average Indian as well, besides of course the healthcare professionals.

I can see two reasons why India is doing very well on the vaccine front. One, we have a very robust immunization programme. 

Every child is mandatorily vaccinated at regular intervals against a host of diseases, like tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) etc.

So, vaccination is nothing new for an Indian. 

The second reason could be that all are desperate to get back to their normal routine. If vaccination is what it takes, "we are all ready!" 

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

The Maharaja is back home

When a government decides to privatise something it owns, there is usually lots of protests from different quarters. 

Among the fears are that either it will go to wrong hands who will mismanage it or it will turn into an elite establishment accessible only to the wealthy.

Last week, when India government finally completed the privatisation process of its national airline -- Air India -- there were hardly any murmurs of disapproval. On the contrary, it was sort of a celebration! 

The primary reason: the airline has now gone back to its original owner -- the Tata group, a company founded in 1869, by a Parsi entrepreneur named Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata. 

The cost: ₹18,000 crore or around $2,387 million.

The Maharaja is Air India's mascot.

The famous Amul butter advertisement said it the best:

(Amul butter is arguably the most famous in that category and the ad campaign - like the one above - that plays on words, has been running since 1967 pegged on current events, and is very popular.)

As a government enterprise, Air India hasn't been able to keep up with the cut-throat competition in the private sector, and it is in the red. 

I think on various counts the Tata Group is the most successful Indian company. We will get to that in some other post.

Suffice to say that they have been around for as long as 152 years and they have a presence in such a diverse portfolio of products and services -- from salt, steel and software to jewellery, hospitality and aviation, and more!

Hopefully, the Tatas will be able to nurse the airline back to the glorious days. 

ONCE THE BEST IN THE WORLD

Air India was founded in 1932 by J R D Tata (Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata), the 4th chairman of the Tata Group.

Tata was the first person in India to get a pilot's licence, and he flew India's first aircrft. It transported mails during the British time, and later began India's first passenger flights.

Air India was born as Tata Air Services which was renamed later as Tata Airlines. In 1947, soon after Independence, the government acquired 49% of stakes and in 1953, the airline was fully nationalised.

With the airline flying to international destinations, it was not just a company growing its business, it was also the image of India abroad, as Tata saw it. 

The legend has it that Tata, a perfectionist, got on to the flights, and looked closely at the reactions of the passengers and took down notes. He then passed them on to the staff appreciating them or pointing out areas that need improvement. 

He didn't want any complaints from the passengers, and he didn't want any airline that was better than Air India in the world. And he achieved that to a great extent.

J R D INTERVIEW 

In the 1980s, Rajiv Mehrotra ran a very popular interview programme on the national broadcaster Doordarshan. (India in those didn't private TV channels, the only channel was the government one.)

One of the interviewees was J R D Tata. Here it is. 44 minutes long.



In those days, Tata Steel brought out a series of very popular TV jingles titled "We also make steel". It spoke a lot about how the company saw itself. Here it is: 


Sunday, October 3, 2021

Visit to Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad

We were in Ahmedabad for 6 years - from 1990 to 1996. It was one of the most memorable periods in my life.

After 19 years, in March 2015, we were back in that city for a few days' visit.

We caught up with our friends; went back to the place where we had stayed; and to the streets from where we used to shop.

We also went to the Lucky Restaurant in Mirzapur. It hadn't changed much.

They had the very same popular maska bun and tea. (Maska is butter; and bun is a small thick roll of bread. The bun is sliced, and served with butter and jam inside.)

The same taste. The same ambience. So reminiscent of those good old days!

GANDHI JAYANTI

Yesterday was Gandhi Jayanti (birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi). He born 152 years ago, on the 2nd of October 1869.

During our visit to Ahmedbad, we went to Sabarmati Ashram, the serene enclave on the banks of the Sabarmati River, which was Gandhi's home from 1917 to 1930 -- the most significant period in India's freedom struggle.

(Ashram is a religious or monastic retreat. Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, where he worked as a lawyer, in 1915. India became independent in 1947.)

Yesterday, we remembered our visit to Sabarmati Ashram. Here are some photos taken during the visit to the ashram.

Sabarmati River, on the banks of which is the ashram.

Hriday Kunj


Gandhi's work place

Gandhi's wife Kasturba's room

If you would like to know more about Sabarmati Ashram, here is the link.

The webiste has a virtual tour of the ashram.

There is a video tour on the Ashram's Youtube channel.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

Une surprise / A surprise

(English translation is at the end.)

De nos jours, il fait très froid la nuit. C’est parce qu’il pleut. Aujourd’hui, il a beaucoup plu.

Bengaluru a deux saisons des pluies – de juin à septembre et novembre - décembre.

Parfois, il y a le tonnerre et la foudre.

Quand il pleut, on ne peut pas sortir. C’est très ennuyeux!

Aujourd’hui, j'étais chez moi.. J’ai cuisiné, regardé la télé, envoyé des e-mails, et nettoyé ma chambre.

L’après-midi, il y avait une surprise – j’ai reçu un paquet en ligne via Amazon.

Immédiatement, je l’ai ouvert. C’était un cadeau de mon ami – la biographie de Roger Federer!

J’étais très heureux, et je l’ai appelé pour le remercier.

Il m’a dit : « J’ai vu ce livre en Amazon. Je sais que tu aimes beaucoup Federer, et tu n’as pas ce livre. Alors, j’ai décidé de te l’offrir. »

C’est très gentil, et j’ai dit : « merci beaucoup! »

===============

Nowadays, it's very cold at night. It's because it rains. Today, it rained a lot.

Bengaluru has two rainy seasons - from June to September and November - December. Sometimes, there is thunder and lightning.

When it rains, we can't go out. It's very boring.

Today, I was at home. I cooked, watched television, sent some emails, and cleaned my room.

In the afternoon, there was a surprise - I received a packet online via Amazon.

Immediately, I opened it. It was a gift from my friend -- Roger Federer's biography!

I was very happy and I called to thank him. 

He said, "I saw the book on Amazon. I know you like Federer a lot, and that you don't have that book. So, I decided to gift it to you."

How sweet of him! I said, "Thank you, so much!"


 


Friday, September 24, 2021

New lease of life with double lung transplant

(This post is a part of the monthly We Are The World Blogfest that goes out on the last Friday of every month to highlight the positive stories around us. On Facebook and on Twitter.)

In the midst of all the Covid-triggered gloom and doom, there are happy stories too, of people who have battled their way out.

One such is from here in Bengaluru, that of Dr Sanath Kumar, a 30-year-old anaesthetist, who contracted Covid on May 8 this year, while working with patients at a hospital.

His condition deteriorated to acute lung damage, and he had to be put on mechanical ventilation. Doctors determined that there was no option but to go in for a 'double lung transplant'.

They waited for a suitable match, while Dr Kumar's life was sustained by connecting him to an ECMO (Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which is a machine that does the work of the lungs and the heart.

He was on ECMO support for four weeks before a suitable match was eventually found, and the transplant was done on June 21.

After a three-month-long recuperation, he was discharged from the hospital on the 16th of this month.

This is what Dr Sanath Kumar said:  “When I tested positive and started taking medicines, I thought I would recover soon. I had never imagined that my health would deteriorate so much and end up having a lung transplant.”

Incidentally, in December last year, a patient from Haryana, whose lung function had similarly deteriorated because of Covid survived for as long as 53 days on ECMO, that's almost two months, at a hospital in Hyderabad, before doctors there could do a double lung transplant on him. 

Apparently, this is the longest duration of ECMO support for a lung-impaired patient in India.

Source:

The Hindu, India Today, Pixabay

Monday, September 20, 2021

Visit to a bank

Image courtesy: Pixabay

Recently I went to a bank to clarify some doubts regarding closing a second account I have with them.

It is a salary account, which was opened when I was working at a different office. That account is now practically inactive because there is no money coming into it now.

At the bank, I explained to the executive the doubts I had about closing that account. She didn't have all the answers and consulted one of her colleagues. 

Meanwhile, she had a look at my other account (not the one I wanted to close) and suggested that I open a fixed deposit. 

(Money in a fixed deposit account earns a slightly higher rate of interest, depending on the duration of the deposit, compared to the normal savings bank account.)

I was a bit taken aback by that suggestion since I was at the bank to resolve an issue and not to open a fixed deposit account.

I told her that there's not much money in that account to make opening a fixed deposit worthwhile. 

But her argument was: even if it is not much money, why do you want to let it just lie there? Why don't you move it to an account that will get you more interest?

I said I would think over it, and that if I needed to open one, I shall do that myself later at home, at my convenience, via internet banking. 

I also quickly reminded her if her colleague could make any progress with the doubts that I had. She said her colleague was busy and that I would have to wait for five minutes. 

I said that's fine, and that I am in no hurry.

Meanwhile, she broached the topic of the fixed deposit again. But this time, she was more upfront.

"I will get some points if I open a fixed deposit for a customer," she said with a smile.

What she was referring to was: every account she gets opened would fetch her a point, which might help her at the time of periodic performance assessment, and who knows, if she is really successful, she might even win an award!

I thought for a moment. Anyway, it wouldn't entail any loss for me. If at all, it would only be some small gain by way of interest for that pittance I have in that account.

She was evidently pleased with my acquiescence and enthusiastically went through the process of opening my fixed deposit.

So, what about closing that account, for which I come to the bank? 

Well, that didn't happen. Because I was told that I have to sort out some other related issues before I can close it. Maybe in a couple of weeks, it'll be done.

I exited the bank with a sort of satisfaction that it wasn't an altogether wasted effort. If not mine, someone else's work got done.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Djokovic's dream crumbles

Source: US Open/Twitter

(This is a continuation of yesterday's post)

As I had planned, yesterday I went to bed early, kept the alarm for 5 am, to catch the final moments of the Novak Djokovic - Daniiel Medvedev match.

My hope was it would be an intense battle between the two, which would stretch well beyond three hours.

When the alarm rang, I checked the BBC Sports app, to see how the match was progressing. 

The match was over! Medvedev, the new US Open Champion.

I went back to sleep. I only wanted to know how quickly Djokovic capitulated.

MEDVEDEV SHOW

I watched the highlights, first thing in the morning. 

The 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 match of the Grand Slam Final lasted a mere 2 hours 15 mins. That's just 24 minutes more than the two sets of the women's final yesterday! I couldn't believe that! 

It was a one-sided game - but for a change, it wasn't Novak who was hogging the limelight.

The Serbian -- who had said a few days ago that he would play the final as if it was the last match of his career in order to achieve the goal of the Calendar Slam -- was a pale shadow of his former self. His body language, for some reason, wasn't of one who was gunning for a historic title. 

It's quite possible that he got weighed down by his own expectations. Medvedev, who had nothing to lose, just let his game flow. And he was brilliant. He had the ball fully under his control. 

Especially when moved to the net, he clearly knew where to land the ball. Each of those passing shots and drop shots was exquisitely timed and placed. Djokovic looked simply stranded. 

The numbers bear out what played out. Novak had 38 unforced errors. Though Daniiel too was off the mark with 31 unforced errors, he had 38 winners in comparison to 27 of Novak. Russian sent down 16 aces, while the Serbian had just 6.

WHY MEDVEDEV HAD TO WIN THE CUP

If it was Calendar Slam that drove Djokovic, it was something else that motivated Medvedev. Watch the video below:

Sunday, September 12, 2021

The New York fairytale teen party

Emma Raducanu
Source: US Open/Twitter

I am glad I stayed up late in the night, till 4 am this early morning. It was a sheer joy to watch some high-class, scintillating tennis. 

The US Open Women's Singles final -- between Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez -- was a class apart.

A straight-set victory needn't be a one-sided damp squib. The 6-4 6-3 scoreline doesn't say it all. Till the final moments of the second set, there was not more than a lead of 2 games for either of them. 

That just indicates how close the match progressed. No wonder these two sets took almost two hours, 1 hour 51 mins, to be precise.  

Leylah Fernandez
Source: US Open/Twitter

AN UNUSUAL FINAL 

When we think of the final of any tournament, what comes to mind are senior players. Because we think it's the seniors who are more experienced, and therefore they automatically have a higher level of skillsets.

Here we had two teenagers -- Emma Raducanu born on the 13th of November 2002, and Leylah Fernandez born on the 6th of September 2002. (Yesterday was 9/11, and when 9/11 happened they weren't even born.)

Both were born in Canada. Their mothers are both Asian.

Emma's parents are Ian from Romania and Renee from China. Leylah's father is Jorge from Ecuador and her mother is Irene from the Philippines.

Emma's family moved to England when she was two.

TENNIS AT ITS BEST

Yesterday was the culmination of the fairytale progress of two remarkable tennis players.

Leylah Fernandez's route to the final was probably more impressive. Among those she beat were Osaka, Kerber and Sabalenka. But there were many three-setters and tie-breaks. 

Contrast that with Emma Raducanu's route: Bencic and Sakkari were among the players she beat. But she didn't drop a set. All straight sets. No tiebreaks. 6-4 margin was the closest.

Yet, either of the two teenagers could have been holding the trophy, but Emma took her unbelievable dream run, which she has been having over the last three weeks, to its logical conclusion. 

Both rallied. Both held serves. Both broke as well. 

Neither gave the other the wide margin that would have made the match very predictable. 

Forehand and backhand crosscourt shots sent the opponent scurrying from one end to the other. Some were taken. The others ended up as top-class winners. 

Either way, it was tennis at its best.

ONE JARRING MOMENT THOUGH

The most crucial and exciting bit was at the end of the 2nd set, with Emma at 5-3 short of just a game to become the champion.

From 0-15 down, she moved up 30-30. She served. Leylah returned cross-court. Emma sent it back cross-cross again. 

Then, Leylah sent one down the line, forcing Emma to run to the left to take it. But she slid, legs bent.

She scraped her left knee on the ground but recovered quickly to rush to the other end and take the shot. But that went long, much to her disappointment. 

That got Leylah ahead, 30-40, just one point away from getting a breakpoint. 

Source: ABC (Australia)

Emma found that her knee was bleeding. She said later at the press conference that she wanted to play on lest it would break her rhythm. But the umpire, on probably seeing blood oozing, said the play had to stop.

As her team got to cleaning the wound and plastering the cut, at the other end, Leylah thought her rival was taking an unjustifiably long break. She complained to the umpire, and it went on for a while. 

Source: ABC (Australia)

Quite possible that Leylah didn't know the extent of injury that Emma had suffered. Rules are very clear that if a player has sustained a cut that is bleeding, the match has to be stopped. And the physio can request a medical timeout.

I am sure this would have been explained to Leylah, but she seemed to be persisting with her complaint. Probably in the heat of the moment. It looked like very poor sportsmanship. This is what she said later at the post-match presser.

"I honestly did not know what was happening with Emma ... I didn't know how serious her fall was, so that's why I went to see the official and ask her about it. ... It was just too bad that it happened in that specific moment with me with the momentum. But it's sports, it's tennis. Just got to move on." 

Emma got back on the court. She scored to make it 40-40. Then it went like this: 40-AD, 40-40, AD-40, and then an ace, the winner.

IT'S ALL FORGOTTEN

But at the end of it all, on the podium, it was all forgotten. Unlike some of the seniors, they didn't seem to be rivals. The body language was like that of friends -- the camera did catch them smiling at each other and chatting. 

Leylah Fernandez sounded naturally disappointed but she was absolutely gracious. She looked forward to more final matches with Emma. And she paid glowing tributes to the resilience of the people of New York during the past 20 years.

 
AMAZING RECOVERY

This was Emma Raducanu's just second Grand Slam tournament, after appearing in the Wimbledon. On the 6th of July, after playing for 1 hour 15 mins, and trailing Ajla Tomljanovic 4-6, 0-3, she retired. 

She was so overwhelmed by the expectations of a roaring home crowd that she apparently had breathing difficulty. Some said it was an anxiety attack. What a tearful exit from her first Grand Slam appearance it was.

There was no automatic entry for her to the US Open. She had to play qualifying matches. Not quite sure of her chances, she had apparently booked her flight ticket back to Britain.

I am sure she must have put her mind and body into getting out of such a low depth she had plunged into. And what better proof of her resilience than the victory yesterday.

THE FUTURE

It's not the first time youngsters have won a major cup after defeating experienced players. But that's one thing. What matters finally and defines true class is consistency.

Staying on top is far more difficult than reaching the top.

Both Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez will know that in the coming months and years. The world's focus will be on them once again coming January when they are at Melbourne for the Australian Open.

Wish both the very best, and hope they have a long and enjoyable career. And they continue to regale fans like me.

MEN'S FINAL

In a few hours, the men's final will begin. It will start at 1.30 in the night Indian Standard Time. I have decided not to sit through the night.

All eyes are on Novak. If he wins it would be the first time in 52 years, since any male player has won all four Grand Slams in one calendar year. 

If it's a one-sided damp squib, then it's a sheer waste. 

If it's a tough duel (what I would actually want to watch), then it's going to drag on till 5 o'clock or even 6 o'clock in the morning.

I am planning to go to bed early, and hope to get up early. So, maybe I will be able to catch the final thrilling moments.

Let's see how it goes.

(Next part of this post tomorrow)

Saturday, September 4, 2021

A welcome change

My brother-in-law and family had to travel out of Bengaluru for a few weeks. That would have meant my mother-in-law, who stays with them, would be alone at home. She asked us if it was okay for us to move in with her so that she would have company. We said yes, and moved in on Aug 19.

It's about 15 km from our home. But being here is a wholly different feeling altogether. Different locality; different surroundings; different routes for my morning/evening walks; different work-from-home settings ... It's not necessary to travel far away for a change!

Coincidentally, last week, my sister-in-law and family traveled down to Bengaluru from Bhopal on some work. They too joined us for a few days. It's been quite a few years since we met them. So, it was a good family time. 

How much ever video calls have succeeded in "reducing the distance" between people staying miles apart, nothing like being in the same room and talking to one another. 

After the short sojourn, we are returning home tomorrow.

Thursday, August 12, 2021

India in Olympics

Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony (Source: Olympics.com)

One of the reasons I didn't blog for almost a month was the Olympics. I wasn't checking blogs either during that time. 

I was totally engrossed in the live telecast of so many events, both in which India was participating and those in which India wasn't.

SIMULTANEOUS LIVE FEEDS  

Sony was the official broadcast partner for India, and they did a really good job. There were separate live feeds of almost all the events. There was a separate channel for events in which India was participating.

Every evening, I picked the events that I wanted to watch the next day and made sure I kept myself free, as far as possible. With so many events being telecast live simultaneously, I had to constantly toggle the channels!

The official Olympics website and app were also good with live updates of all the events. I used to keep a watch on that as well so I could switch when an event became interesting.

The only constraint was the timing. Japan is three and a half hours ahead of India. So on some days, it was a bit of a struggle to wake up early after a late night at work.

RISE AND FALL OF HOCKEY

The only game in which India was good at in the Olympics was field hockey. India won its first Olympic medal in 1928 when its hockey team won the gold. It remained unbeaten winning six gold medals consecutively till 1956.

Then it was silver in 1960, gold in 1964, bronze in 1968 and 1972, nil in 1976 and gold in 1980. All in hockey. Then onwards India hasn't done well in the game.

RISE OF OTHER SPORTS AND GAMES

India had to wait till 1996 when other sportspersons began making their presence felt and began picking up medals.

1996

Leander Paes - bronze - tennis

2000

Karnam Malleswari - bronze - weightlifting

2004

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore - silver - shooting

Abhinav Bindra. (Source: India Today)
2008 

Abhinav Bindra - gold - shooting

Vijendra Singh - bronze - boxing 

Sushil Kumar - bronze - wrestling

2012

Vijay Kumar - silver - shooting

Sushil Kumar - silver - wrestling

Gagan Narang - bronze - shooting

Saina Nehwal - bronze - badminton

Mary Kom - bronze - boxing

Yogeshwar Dutt - bronze - wrestling

2016 

P V Sindhu - silver - badminton

Sakshi Malik - bronze - wrestling

THE BEST SO FAR

Neeraj Chopra (Source: Sportstar)

This year was the best so far. Compared to all previous years, India competed in the most number of events (18), sent the most number athletes (70 men and 54 women), and got the most number of medals (7).

Neeraj Chopra - gold - javelin throw

Mirabai Chanu - silver - weightlifting

Lovlina Borgohain - bronze - boxing

P V Sindhu - bronze - badminton

Ravi Kumar Dahiya - silver - wrestling

Bajrang Punia - bronze - wrestling

Team - bronze - men's hockey 

NARROW MISSES

Two events in which India lost the bronze medal match but won the hearts were one, in bronze in which young Aditi Ashok finished fourth after staying tied in 2nd place for almost three days; and two, the women's hockey team that fought so hard in the bronze medal match but lost to Britain.

Besides these two:

Vinesh Phogat lost in the wrestling quarterfinals

Mary Kom lost in boxing pre-quarterfinal

Deepika Kumari (world No.1 in women's recurve category) lost in the quarterfinals

Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary lost in shooting 2nd qualification stage

BRIGHT PROSPECTS

There are many reasons why India hasn't generally done well. 

One is the lack of good global-level infrastructure for athletes to train; two, lack of resources for them to go and stay abroad for long durations to train; and the third is the traditional attitude among Indian parents putting more emphasis on their children's studies rather than in sports.

All of these have been changing in the past decade or so, and that's getting reflected in India's performance on the global stage, not just in the Olympics, but more importantly, in many other world championship events.

And I am sure the best is yet to come.

Sunday, August 8, 2021

From Feedburner to follow.it

Pic source: Pixabay

Finally, I made the transition. This has been pending since April when Google announced that they were winding up Feedburner's email subscription service for publishers.

I searched the web for options, and there are quite a few of them. Finally I chose follow.it as the alternative to Feedburner. I was also encouraged by this post of my blog pal Liz who too opted for follow.it. 

By the way, follow.it is spelt with the first letter 'f' in lower case and not capitals.

follow.it has a simple user interface; and, there are links to good explainers for people like me who are transitioning to a new service to offer feed subscriptions to readers.

The first step in the transition process was to download the list of my email subscribers from Feedburner. Not quite unexpected, only 15 out of 370 email IDs looked genuine! The rest seemed to be bot-triggered spam.

The readers who had subscribed via Feedburner have now been moved to follow.it. If I have missed anyone, please do re-subscribe to the feed via follow.it.

follow.it has a few additional features that I didn't find on Feedburner. One of them is that readers can set filters, like specific tags or keywords or even go by popularity to customise their experience. 

There are multiple ways in which the email subscriptions can be received, like single email, or multiple emails as and when new posts are published. There is an option to see these feeds on follow.it. One can also get the feeds on Telegram by linking it to follow.it. 

Apparently, more features like Chrome extension, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc are in the pipeline.

These are all available in the free plan. The paid option opens up a few more features like detailed analytics of subscriptions.

This is the link to follow my blog. Or you have the widget on top of the right panel on this page.

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Le premier blog article en Français / First blog post in French

On April 14, last year, I said, "Maybe one day, there will be a blog post in French!" I thought I shouldn't delay that début any longer.

But before that, there was a problem. Though the English and French alphabets are the same, French has five types of accents. The pronunciation of a letter with and without an accent is different. 

The five are:

L'accent aigu (é)

L'accent grave (è)

L'accent circonflexe or "chapeau" (â)

La cédille (ç)

Le tréma (ë)

I needed French a keyboard or some method by which I could get these accents.

Windows 10 has an option to have keyboards of different languages. I enabled the one for French. 

But the problem with that was that the keys aren't the same. Like for example, where we have 'a', it's 'q'. So, if I type out femme on a French keyboard, it'll turn out to be: fe,,e.

I went to Youtube and searched how I could get French accents on Windows English keyboard. I found that there are so many methods one could do that. But the one I liked, the simplest one, was this.

This is the keyboard shortcut. 

é = Cntr ' e 

è = Cntr ` e

ê = Cntr Shift ^ 

ë = Cntr Shift ;

ç = Cntr ,

But it works only on MS Word; not on Blogger Draft or Notepad. 

So, here I go. Needless to say, I typed this out on MS Word and then pasted it here. The translation is below that:

*************

Bonjour! Comment ça va?

Je m’appelle Pradeep, et j’habite á Bengaluru en Inde.

J’apprends le Français alors j’essaye – pour la premier fois – écrire un article sur mon blog en Français.

S’il y a des erreurs, pardon, s’il vous plaît.

Aujourd’hui, c’est le premier jour d’août.

C’est dimanche.

C’est un jour férié donc je ne dois pas aller au bureau.

Hello! How are you?

My name is Pradeep, and I live in Bengaluru in India.

I am learning French, so I am trying -- for the first time -- to write a blog post in French.

Please excuse me if there are errors.

Today is the first day of August.

It's Sunday.

It's a public holiday and I don't have to go to office.

*************

I am sure to get some usages / prepositions wrong, which I guess will get better with more exposure to the language.

Monday, July 12, 2021

Super Sports Sunday

6.30 am. I woke up, switched on the TV. 

Late in the night after 3. I switched off the TV, went to bed.

Three matches -- two football and one tennis -- during the course of the day. 

All together over 7 hours. 

COPA AMERICA 2021 FINAL

Image courtesy: The Guardian

The blockbuster Brazil and Argentina match kicked off at 5.30 am IST at Rio's Maracana stadium. But I managed to wake up only an hour late. By that time Argentina had scored. 

The scoreline stayed. A bit surprising, because Brazil dominated the game. 

Brazil had 59% of the possession; 13 shots (Argentina 6), and 4 corners (Brazil 1).

Anyway, the win was huge for Argentina, and Lionel Messi. 

That goal ended their 28-year-long wait for a victory in a major tournament. But a big disappointment for Brazil's Neymar who is yet to win a major international.

WIMBLEDON MEN'S FINAL   

Image courtesy: wimbledon.com

Back in front for the TV at 6.30 pm. 

The result was expected. Novak Djokovic finally caught up with what his two seniors -- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- achieved: 20 Grand Slam titles. 

But Italy's Matteo Berrettini ensured that it was not a cakewalk for his opponent. At one point it looked like the match could go either way. I am glad that was some drama.

It was fascinating tennis stretching 3 hours 23 minutes. When Djokovic lost the first set 4-7 in the tie-break, I thought this will stretch to a five-setter.

But he seemed to be setting the tone as he won the first 4 games of the 2nd set. Berrettini held the serve to make it 4-1. Djokovic held the next and had a chance to wrap up the set. 

But Berrettini gave a stiff resistance and caught up picking up the next three games in a row to make it 5-4. The 10th game was Djokovic's serve and he finally closed it at 6-4.

Berrettini seemed to have lost a bit of the momentum in the 3rd set and Djokovic won that without much difficulty with the same score.

Image courtesy: wimbledon.com

The fourth set, in which Berrettini took a lead with a win in the 1st game, was a bit more challenging for Djokovic as he had to wait till the seventh game to get ahead: 4-3. From then on, the path was clearer and his job was done as Berrettini made an unforced backhand error.

Now all eyes are on the next matches that Djokovic will play. There is something called the Golden Slam, which only Steffi Graf has achieved in 1988, with a victory in all the four Grand Slams and an Olympic Gold Medal. 

But now whether the World Number One can do that is in doubt as he seemed to have been put off by the tight restrictions in the Olympic Village, and he is in two minds if he would go.

If he wins the US Open, which will start on Aug 30, he will get ahead of Federer and Nadal, and he would sort of establish himself as the GOAT or the Greatest Of All Time.

INDIA VS ENGLAND WOMEN'S T20

Image courtesy: Twitter/ICC

While the Wimbledon was on, the 2nd T20 cricket match between India and England women's team was being played at Hove. I kept checking the score on the BBC Sports app. 

India notched up 140 for 8 in 20 overs, and England fell short of the target by 8 runs. 

It was a thriller which I missed. 

The third match is tomorrow.

EURO 2020 FINAL

Image courtesy: BBC

After the tennis match, I took a one and a half hour nap before getting back in front of the TV at 12.30 am for the next epic encounter, at Wimbley.

It was a match truly worthy of a championship final as England and Italy battled hard. 

Within just two minutes of the start, the game got charged up as Luke Shaw scored for England. It should have remained like that at least. 

But in the 67th minute, Leonardo Bonucci equalised for Italy.

As expected the match went into half an hour of extra time and then the penalty shootout.

Though in the back of my mind I had a feeling that Italy might win, I was supporting England. And it was such a heartbreak to see Harry Kane's team fall behind by the thinnest of margins. 

It must be said that barring the initial few minutes, Italy was generally in control of the game, and they were constantly sniffing at opportunities to score.

They had 65% of the possession and had as many as 6 shot on target in comparison to just 2 for England.

In the penalty shootout, for England, Harry Kane and Harry Maguire scored; but the shots of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka failed to find the target.

It's sad that the England's three were subjected to racial abuse on social media. The flipside of our ubiquitous online world.

For Italy, Domenico Berardi, Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi scored; while the shots of Andrea Belotti and Jorginho were saved. 

And thus the quest of England for a major international win continues 55 years after their last triumph in the 1966 World Cup at the same Wimbley stadium.

England didn't win. But I enjoyed a thoroughly vigorous and enthusiastic contest.

The time was well past 3 am when I hit the sack.


Saturday, July 10, 2021

Barty Party

Dream come true for Ashleigh Barty
Image courtesy: Wimbledon.com

I was rooting for Ashleigh Barty, the plucky 25-year-old Australian, and I am so glad that she made it.

She adds the Venus Rosewater Dish to the Suzanne Lenglen trophy (the French Open) she won in 2019.

Initially, I was worried this would be a one-sided damp squib, as her opponent, 29-year-old former world number 1, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic seemed to have given up right from the word go.

DULL START

Pliskova conceded the first 14 points to Barty who seemed to be having a free run picking up the first 4 games. A semblance of some fight followed with Pliskova picking up the next game after securing a break.

She again broke to make it 2-5 and held the serve to make it 3-5. But Barty wrapped up the set at 6-3.

GRIPPING 2ND SET

The 2nd game was the best. Barty's crafty backhand slice and Pliskova's powerful serve were in full display, with a number of well-timed and well-placed strokes making the set absolutely gripping as the two players moved ahead neck and neck.

After losing the opening game which was a Pliskova serve, Barty broke the 3rd and held the fourth to move ahead 3-1. Pliskova caught up to make it 3-3 and moved ahead again 4-3. The game ended up in a tie-break, with Barty losing 4-7. 

BARTY SEALS IT

With one set all, it was start over, and fingers crossed. Barty opened the set and raced ahead to 3-0. Pliskova picked up the 4th, 6th and 8th game by holding her serve. This set was very much like the first one. The early advantage that Barty got stood her in good stead. She was well and truly ahead and closed the set with the next game at 6-3.

Well played, Karolina Pliskova
Image courtesy: Eurosport

HISTORIC

Barty's win comes exactly 10 years after she had won the junior Wimbledon title; 50 years after an Australian (Evonne Goolagong Cawley) won the cup in 1971, and 5 years after a world number one (Serena Williams) won the title in 2016.

It's no surprise that Barty was so overcome with emotion. After that Wimbledon Junior title victory at the age of 15, she went on to play for another three years. Then she felt the stress too much to handle. 

She quit active tennis. "It was too much too quickly for me as I've been travelling from quite a young age ... I wanted to experience life as a normal teenaged girl and have some normal experiences," she told Cricket Australia.

When Barty switched to cricket in 2014-16
Image courtesy: Cricket Australia

She switched to cricket, and with no prior experience in the game, in just one year she made a mark for the Brisbane Heat team in the Women's Big Bash League.

After two years with cricket, she returned to her first love and began chasing her dream. 

And it became a reality today.

WIN FOR AUSTRALIA

Barty's win also means a lot for Australian sport. She traces her lineage, via her great grandmother, to an indigenous Australian group of people called Ngarigu. 

Coincidentally, Barty's friend, inspiration and mentor, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, now 66 years old, the Australian who previously won the Wimbledon Singles Trophy in 1971, too belongs to an indigenous community, the Wiradjuri people.

SUPER SUNDAY

Tomorrow is going to be a great sporting day. 

There's the final of Copa America at 5.30 am IST, between Brazil and Argentina.

In the evening at 6.30 is the Wimbledon Men's Final, Djokovic vs Matteo Berrettini.

Late in the night at 12.30 is the European Championship, Euro 2020, final between England and Italy.

I am not sure if I will be able to wake up as early as 5.30. Maybe I will be able to catch 2nd half. Let me see.

Monday, July 5, 2021

Fully vaccinated

Image source: Pixabay

I am now fully vaccinated. I got the second dose of Covishield yesterday. 

That's the very popular Indian version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured here by Serum Institute of India, the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines.

I took the first dose on April 9.

Earlier, the gap between the two shots of Covishield was smaller, I think between 28 and 45 days. Later, in the face of a massive shortage of vaccines, the government widened the gap to 84 days.

The other popular vaccine in India is Covaxin, a completely Indian product manufactured by Bharat Biotech. The gap for this continues to be a minimum of 30 days.

AT APARTMENT COMPLEX

I took the jab at a vaccination camp held in our apartment complex. A remarkably smooth process.

All that we had to do was carry our personal identity document and the code that was generated when we registered for vaccination on the government portal CoWin

The hospital personnel at the site upload the particulars to the portal and soon after the vaccination, we get a message from the government's Health Ministry stating that we have govt vaccinated. From the portal, we can also download a certificate.

Incidentally, the Indian government is holding a global conclave later today on leveraging technology in vaccination management.

ADDITIONAL COST

Many resident welfare organisations and private companies are taking such initiatives in partnership with private hospitals, which is a good move, considering that it increases the number of people who are inoculated.

The cost is a little higher though. I paid ₹1,100, while for the first one at a private hospital, I paid ₹750. 

The extra cost, over and above the government-stipulated price, is presumably for the favour of coming over to our residential complex, something that everyone would appreciate since it's risky to go to a hospital in these times. 

Some private hospitals agree to send vaccinators to even residences, but again at an extra cost.

The government on June 8, issued an order capping the maximum price for Covishield at ₹780, for Covaxin at ₹1,410 and for Sputnik V at ₹1,145.

The vaccination is free of cost at government hospitals and public health centres. The local corporation is not quite enthusiastic about coming over to residential premises.

ROLE OF PRIVATE HOSPITALS

I think for a large country like India, it's perfectly okay for the private sector to be given some leeway to manage such massive operations. So that the government resources and money can be channelled to the people who can't afford the cost. After all, nothing comes for free.

A positive outcome of the active involvement of the private sector is that a large number of people, who can afford to pay the cost, do get vaccinated, and thereby slowing down the spread of the coronavirus.


Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Queue-jumping

Image courtesy: Pixabay

The post A Page from the Past by SG reminded me of an incident at a small neighbourhood store near my home. But before that, let me give you some context.

In India, while in big department stores customers queue up while checking out, in smaller shops, where customers ask an employee to get them what they want, there is no queue system.

The pandemic brought in some change, and customers queued up keeping some distance between one another. But then if there are just two or three people, they stand one beside the other, trying to get the attention of the storekeeper and be done with the shopping as soon as possible.   

So, when a new customer comes, the shopkeeper would ask him what he wants, even while the other customers are being attended to. Thus, some people, who have many items to be bought, end up being overtaken by customers who have just one or two articles to be purchased.

ONE VIEW

If you are wondering why the shopkeeper is allowing some people to jump the queue, he has a reason: why should someone who has just one item to be purchased be forced to wait until everyone who came before him (who probably might have many items in the purchase list) finished their shopping? 

Also, the shopkeeper risks losing such customers, who have just a single item to be bought; they might just move to another shop.

THE OTHER VIEW

How much ever logical that sounds, I remember my father, who was a stickler for discipline, hating this system. Even if he had just one item to be purchased, he would refuse to be attended to before people who came before him were. 

I have seen shopkeepers, finding that very odd. But then, that's how my father was, and because of this what he called "an unfair" system, he used to avoid such stores or shop at off-peak hours or go to a bigger department store where there is a queue system.

My father too had a reason, which we would understand if we are the ones who had to wait for a long time to go through our shopping because we were overtaken by a few others who came later. 

A bit of that trait has rubbed off on me as well. I get irritated when others jump the queue, or they are allowed to jump the queue. And, I feel guilty when I am allowed to jump the queue.

MULTITASKING AT ITS BEST

Recently, at home, we ran out of tea leaves. So, on my way back from the morning walk, I was at one of those smaller neighbourhood shops.

The shopkeeper, as usual, asked me what I wanted. But there was one other person already making some purchase. So, I told the shopkeeper to finish whatever he was doing. 

But then, he told me that the customer had four or five items and it would take some time. I said it's okay. Then the shopkeeper asked me again what I wanted. 

It didn't make sense anymore not to tell him what I wanted, or I should have left the shop. So I told him I needed a packet of tea leaves. And even while he was getting something for the other gentleman, he got me my packet. Multitasking at its best.

Though I felt bad about this queue-jumping, I sort of consoled myself that the person ahead of me didn't suffer any delay, since the shopkeeper was quite efficient, serving us both simultaneously.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Novak stops Rafa

Courtesy: Twitter/Roland Garros

I am yet to recover from the impact of last night's exhilarating, stratospheric level of tennis that two champions brought on to Court Philippe Chatrier.

To say that there has never been a match like this would not be quite accurate. But for sure there has never been one like this in the recent past.

The scoreline 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 doesn't say it all: the way world number one Novak Djokovic ended the reign of world number 3 and King of Clay Rafael Nadal.

What set this match apart were not just the shots that were played (every match has plenty of them) but more importantly the way they were all taken by each of the two players who covered the length and breadth of court in an exquisite display of athleticism, stamina and mental endurance. That's something that we don't find very often.

There were drop shots that sailed over tantalisingly close to the net, which drew in the opponent who took them, lobbed the ball back, but only to see the ball being brought back to play!

Novak, who had nothing much to lose here, was cool. 

Rafa on the other hand -- who has since 2005 played (till this one) 107 matches on this court and lost only two -- seemed to be weighed down by the burden of his past successes.

Nadal played some brilliant forehand down the line winners. But they weren't enough.

Rafa made 55 unforced errors and 8 double faults in comparison to 37 and 3 by Novak.

Rafa said this at the post-match press conference: “These kinds of mistakes can happen. But if you want to win, you can’t make these mistakes.”

But that is not to take away the credit Novak richly deserves. If there was one person who could get the better of Rafa it was only Novak, and he raised his game to a level that made it possible.

And Novak said after the match, "It was one of these matches you can remember forever. It was one of the top three matches in my life."

It's impossible to condense a match that lasted 4 hours 11 minutes into 6 minutes 31 seconds. That's what this highlights video is. Watch it. Better than nothing.

Just in case you would like to read the match report: on tennis.com and on BBC

O, I forgot the final of the French Open is yet to be played. That's tomorrow. Djokovic will take on Tsitisipas. 

And today evening is the women's final: two unlikely contenders: Barbora Krejcikova vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Also forgotten yesterday were: 

one, the other semifinal in which Tsitsipas beat Zverev; 

two, Euro 2020 kickoff, the biggest sporting event after pandemic changed our lives; 

three, the second day's play of 2nd Test between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston; and

four, the second day's play of 1st Test between West Indies and South Africa at Gros Islet, WI.

Some welcome pleasant distraction in these times!