In search of "The Drunken Butterfly"

A couple of days ago, while scrolling through Google Photos on my mobile, I found a video that I had saved long ago. 

It's an exercise sequence. 

In the video, which is around six-and-half minutes long, you will find the same exercise sequence repeated by nine persons in nine different settings. 

I recalled that it was sent to me by someone on WhatsApp during the Covid days. Since I had liked it, I had saved it in my Google Photos.

When I found this video a couple of days ago, I was quite curious as to what the song is, from which country it is, and also if this is any popular exercise sequence or dance form.

The only clue were some words, probably Chinese, superimposed on the video.

I gave an image search on Google to see if this video already existed on the Internet. But I couldn't find any results.

In order to know what the words are, and also to understand more about the image, I used Google Lens. 

The words are Chinese, and the Lens app threw up translations like: Look at the numbers - Lesson dance - Drunk butterfly.

That was some progress!

Encouraged by that, I gave a Google search for 'Drunk butterfly'.

On Spotify, I found an album "Drunk Butterfly" and a song "Drunken Butterfly" by Sonic Youth an American rock band.

I also found, images of, obviously, butterflies. 

The search also threw up images of plants and flowers.

I then refined the search as "drunk butterfly exercise".

Then I got videos and images of various exercise poses. Nothing even remotely similar to what was in that video.

I refined the search further thus: "drunk butterfly exercise Chinese".

The first result was this video posted on Bilibili. It's a Shanghai-based video-sharing website.

The music is the same as in the WhatsApp video. But it's animation and not real people.

Below the Bilibili result, I found this video on YouTube. It's titled 'Drunken Butterfly'.

The music is the same. Now, real people are doing a dance sequence. 

It's clearly an exercise, because, using Google Lens, I figured out phrases in Chinese like 'lose weight at home' were superimposed on the video.

I continued my search on YouTube with different keywords.

And I found this one, that seemed to give some information. 

It has the lyrics of the song in Pinyin (Mandarin written in Roman/Latin script), and also its English translation.

This website says Chinese song The Drunken Butterfly (Jiu Zui De Hu Die, in Chinese) is sung by Cui Wei Li, and the lyrics and music composition are by Liu Hai Dong. The website has the lyrics and English translation.

Later, I found on YouTube the video I had got on WhatsApp two years ago.

I also noticed that most of The Drunken Butterfly videos were uploaded on YouTube in mid-2020, when Covid struck.

Looks like it became popular when people were locked up in their homes and were desperate to do some exercise.

What money can buy and what it can't

This morning I was listening an interesting documentary on BBC World Service -- The reluctant millionaires. 

It's about the super-rich people -- mainly in the United States -- who are campaigning against the wealth they themselves possess. 

They are mostly people who are born rich, and have remained / grown rich because of the environment in which they have been in. 

However, they aren't quite happy with the financial system which allows the rich to get richer, at the cost of others who don't have as much money as they have, making the latter become poorer. They have formed a group - Patriotic Millionaires.

The BBC documentary, which focusses on wealth inequality, is presented by Abigail Disney, filmmaker and multimillionaire heiress to the Disney empire. 

Bringing in personal insights, she explores the present skewed distribution of money, the harm it does to the society, and what can be done to improve the situation.

The 50-minute programme is available online.

WEALTH IS IMPORTANT

We need money - for basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter; and for minimum comforts and good physical and mental wellbeing that make our lives worth living.

We work in order to get money. We change jobs so that we get more money.

How much money is enough money? 

No one knows, because it varies from person to person. What is one individual's luxury is another one's necessity.

WHAT WEALTH CAN BUY AND CAN'T 

But we know why we need money. We also know that money can't get us many critical things in our lives.

Money can get us material comforts, but not peace of mind and happiness.

Money can buy us food, but not wellbeing and good health.

Money can build relationships, but not affection and love.

(Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay)

Rishi Sunak and India

The announcement on Oct 24 of Rishi Sunak's appointment as PM was understandably big news in the UK.

In India too!

One, it was on Diwali, and coincidence was instantly picked up.

Two, he got married in Bengaluru in 2009, a celebrity event.

Three, the new PM's father-in-law Narayana Murthy, who co-founded Infosys, is a household name in Bengaluru. So much so that it was as if the next-door-neighbour had become the UK PM.

The Prime Minister's mother-in-law, Sudha Murty, is equally famous. A computer engineer, she is a very popular author of children's books, educationist, and philanthropist.

Not surprisingly, one of the jokes doing the rounds was that parents here have a new career goal and benchmark for the children! (See, what Rishi has become ...!")

On Oct. 24, soon after it was known who the next British PM will be, Vidyarthi Bhavan, the iconic restaurant here tweeted a photo of him at the restaurant.

#RishiSunak is going to become the next PM of UK.
Happy to know that he will be the first Indian-origin & the youngest British Prime Minister.
We wish him good luck & may he become the most successful PM of UK by sailing through all the turbulence pic.twitter.com/JhWLtcVTu2

— Vidyarthi Bhavan (@VidyarthiBhavan) October 24, 2022

(By the way, I had written about Vidyarthi Bhavan in an A to Z Challenge post last year.)

All this excitement in India will die down soon.

Hinduism and India are the last things on the new British PM's mind. 

He'll be extremely careful and not do anything that might be seen as being partial to the country his wife, Akshata, is a citizen of. Not to mention the controversies linked to her, which he seems to have survived for now.

Caste: The Lies That Divide Us by Isabel Wilkerson

Though India has made commendable progress in various fields, we are still not free from the shackles of over 3,000 castes and more than 25,000 sub-castes.

True, it's a legacy of the past. But sadly, modern-day education, knowledge, awareness, affluence, etc., have hardly been able to rid the society of caste-based prejudices.  

The fact that caste is a major factor in all elections has only ensured that it stays in public discourses.

In this well-researched book, award-winning American journalist Isabel Wilkerson delves deep into both caste as well as race. 

She narrates many real-life stories to describe the dehumanising impact of stigmatisation, and how the system has got perpetuated by the power vested in the dominant groups.

In India, there are also cases wherein because of their beliefs like "reincarnation" and "life after death", some people, who are victims of subjugation, quietly accept their fate, as the inevitable consequences of the "bad deeds" in their "previous life".  

Why this book needs to be read is because the historical knowledge of this system will help us leave it in the past, and dismantle it from the present.

Goodreads list of books read

So long!

Majestic and ceremonial. Dignified and elegant. Calm and solemn.

That's what the nearly 8-hour-long funeral and the last journey of Queen Elizabeth II was.

Something that I didn't want to miss; I saw the whole of it on the YouTube channel of Sky News.

My admiration for the queen grew multi-fold after I watched the Netflix series The Crown.

It's not just about the royal title of Queen. It's also about Elizabeth II as an individual, and as a woman.

There wasn't, and quite unlikely there will be, a monarch like her. 

She was pitchforked to the pinnacle of royalty at the young age of 25 in 1952. 

Look at how the world changed during the 70 years since then. 

While Britain and the world, battled one crisis after another, there she was, as a constant steadying influence and a source of reassurance and comfort for the UK and Commonwealth.

For everyone else, she was an inspiration, someone who personified admirable individual traits like commitment, sincerity, hard work, wisdom, equanimity, grace, poise, dignity, etc.

It's also interesting that in the UK, there was a change of guard within a span of few days, both in the government and the monarchy.

A new head of government. A new head of state. 

I am sure there will be changes in the months and years to come.

(Image courtesy: BBC)

Munnar trip - 3

September 4, Sunday

It was very encouraging to see that the morning was indeed bright and sunny. That gave us hope of doing some trekking as we planned yesterday.

We reached Kallar (about 10 km from Munnar town) by cab. From there, we travelled another 8 km, uphill on a rough stretch of road by a jeep. We were accompanied by a guide.

From around 10 am for about three hours, we climbed rocky hills treading rough paths that had bushes and weeds on either sides. 

Because of rain, the vegetation was thick, and the slopes were slippery. 

Needless to say, the view from atop the hills was breathtakingly beautiful.

View from top of one of the hills

We got back to Kallar, and then back to Munnar town by 2 pm. After lunch, we got back to the hotel by around 3 pm.

As we expected, it began to rain in the afternoon, forcing us to spend the rest of the day in the hotel. 

September 5, Monday

Our last day in Munnar. 

After breakfast, Henry and I walked to the Botanical Garden, which is 5 km from the hotel. 

We could have taken a taxi or an autorickshaw, like everyone else. But our objective was to walk. It took us one hour to cover the 5 km.

The view while we walked to the Botanical Garden.

The garden is not too big. There are many varieties of plants, but what struck us most was the large variety of different cacti. One can buy plant saplings from there.

After spending about 45 minutes, Henry and I walked back to the hotel, in time for the checkout at 12 noon.

The Botanical Garden is known for the collection of cacti.

It was a lovely three-day stay at Munnar. Normally, it's rain-free time at this time of the year. But thanks to the erratic climatic patterns, every day we had drizzle / rains in the afternoon / evening.

At 1.45 pm, we got on to a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus to Aluva.

All through our 5-hour bus journey, it was raining. Hats off to the bus driver for navigating the twists and turns of the hilly terrain safely.

Our train from Aluva to Bengaluru was at around 9.30 pm. But it was delayed by around 30 minutes. We reached back our home the next day morning around 10.

September 8, Thursday

Today was Thiruonam - the most popular cultural festival of Keralites. 

According to Hindu mythology, Onam is the time when Mahabali, the benevolent king, comes visiting his former subjects. In Kerala, the festival is marked by various cultural programmes. Thiruonam is the last day of the 10-day Onam.

Making floral designs is a part of Onam celebrations.
This one was at my brother-in-law's house.

We had a good family time at my brother-in-law's home. We were glad to have Henry for the special Onam feast, called Onasadya.

September 9, Friday

Henry left for Delhi by Rajdhani Express train at 8 pm. After a few days there, he will spend nearly a month trekking and mountaineering in the Himalayas, before he returns home in North Shields, northeast England.

Munnar trip - 2

September 03, Saturday

The morning was bright and sunny. At 8.30 am we left for Eravikulam National Park, which is at an altitude of 7,000 ft or 2,134 metres. 

The 97 sq km park is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna. But the biggest attraction here though is the Nilgiri Tahr, which is categorized as 'endangered' by the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

There are about 700 to 800 of them in the Eravikulam National Park, making it the largest wild population in the world, says a note at the park.

From the high altitude, we get a fabulous view of a wide expanse of greenery.

NEELAKURINJI

This is another attraction of Munnar. It's flowering shrub unique to the Western Ghats. Known by its botonical name, Strobilanthes kunthiana, Neelakurinji, has only chance to reproduce in its life cycle. 

After flowering and seed dispersal happens only once in 12 years. After flowering and seed dispersal, the plants perish. But the seeds germinate and the plant grows for 12 years until it blooms again. When that happens, it's blue carpet of Neelakurinji everywhere in Munnar. 

It bloomed last last year, that's 2021. But because of Covid, Munnar was closed to tourists. We have to now wait for 2033 for the plant to bloom.

TEA MUSEUM

Munnar is synonymous with tea plantations which we find all over the place. After the national park we went to the Tea Museum. It was set up by the Tatas in 2005. It gives you a good idea of the history of tea plantations in Munnar and also of the role played by the Tatas. 

There is a live demonstration factory where we can see how tea leaves are processed and converted into tea powder.

SPICE GARDEN

This was the day's final destination. It's in Kallar. There is a six acre farm where medicinal plants and trees are grown. Visitors are taken around a garden where these plants are grown. There is a guide who will explain the medicinal properties of various plants. There is also a retail outlet where many herbal medicines are sold. They say the formulations are pure and contain no additives.

Tomorrow we are hoping to do some trekking. 

Munnar trip - 1

My friend from New Castle in North East England, Henry, arrived in Bengaluru on August 31, that's day before yesterday. 

It was good to see him again. The last time he was in India was in Sept 2015.

He was my father's colleague teaching chemistry in school from 1967 to 1969. We have been family friends ever since. He keeps coming to India every two or three years. 

Every time he comes to India, he visits us, and we go on a tour to some nearby place. He is a passionate mountaineer, and climbs a peak in the Himalayas as well before returning home.

This time, we decided to go to Munnar in Idukki district of Kerala. Its in the Western Ghats mountain range and is known for its tea plantations and trekking trails.

Yesterday evening 7.45 pm, we left Bengaluru by train and reached Aluva around 5 45 am today. We boarded a bus to Munnar around 6.30 am and reached here around 10.30 am. 

This is not typically a time when it rains. But weather as we all know has been very unpredictable of late. Though it was sunny in the morning when we arrived, it rained rather heavily in the afternoon. 

When the sky cleared, we stepped out for a walk and went up to the Rose Garden just about 650 metres from the hotel where we are staying. It houses a wide variety of flora. One can also buy saplings.

We then went to meet a friend who teaches in a school here. We had a short walkabout, and then we went to the Mattupetty Dam. Because the rains, some shutters had been opened, and both the reservoir as well as the water gushing out were sights to behold.

Hoping to explore other areas of this enormously beautiful place tomorrow. 

India at 75 and looking ahead

Today is the 75th anniversary of India's independence. 

As part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the celebration of freedom, the government announced the Har Khar Tiranga campaign, an exhortation to all Indians to fly the Tricolour at their homes from August 13 to 15.

It generated a lot of enthusiasm and I could see a number of houses, besides government and private buildings flying the Tricolour. Like countless others, we too joined in, got a flag, and put it up on our balcony.

TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITIES

At 75, we can always look at the pitfalls, the cracks, and various other downsides. They journey hasn't been easy; it wouldn't be either.

However, I would look at it from the other side - the achievements we have made in spite of the enormous challenges during this journey of 75 years. 

I really doubt if there is any other nation in this world that is as diverse as India is -- from climate and languages to dress and food; from seemingly infinite local customs based on religion, caste or sub-caste, to a multitude of regional historical legacies. It's just too mindboggling.

This will be evident to anyone who travels the length and breadth of India -- from south to central to west to north to east of the nation. It's a maze of not just complexities but sometimes even contradictions. 

In this context, look at human endeavour in any segment of life -- be it science and technology, sociology, economics, politics, civil services, armed forces, sports or games -- there are countless stories of triumph over adversities.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in every strata -- be they of any state, gender, religion, caste, creed -- making use of the opportunities that our nation provides them. These opportunities have been stepping stones to better livelihood and lifestyle.

It's this progress that gives me the hope that we will continue to do well; the journey will only get better and better in the years to come.

THE ASSETS TO CHERISH

As we look ahead, in this land of extreme diversity, there are a few features that stand out, and bind us together as one nation: democracy, freedom, unity, constitution, legislature, executive, judiciary, and media.

We have them all in robust health. We need to cherish them, nurture them, because they are the assets on which a nation is built.

Avinash Sable: the star of Birmingham Commonwealth Games

Thoroughly enjoyed five hours of sports -- from around 1 pm to 6 pm -- today. 

Indians figured in six events, on the last day of the 22nd Commonwealth Games at Birmingham. We picked up 4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze today.

The final tally -- 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze; ranked fourth among 72 participating nations, behind Australia, England and Canada.

Not the best show by any means. We had done a lot better during the 2010 Games which was held in New Delhi, coming 2nd with a total medals tally of 101.

This time, out of India's 61 medals, 12 were in wrestling, 10 in weightlifting, 8 in athletics, 7 in boxing and table tennis, 6 in badminton, 3 in judo, 2 in lawn bowls, hockey and squash, 1 in para powerlifting and hockey.

There were plenty stellar performances during the 11-day games. 

From the India point of view, my choice of the best performance was the silver medal won by Avinash Sable in the 3,000 metre steeplechase event. 

Kenyans had always dominated this. And they were hoping to get gold, silver and bronze medals this time too. 

Sable's win was the first time since 1994 when someone outside Kenya won a medal in this event.

27-year-old Sable was born into a poor farmer's family in Mandwa village of Maharashtra's Beed district. 

After competing the 12th grade, he joined the Indian Army. Today, he is a Junior Commissioned Officer with the Mahar Regiment of the Indian Army.

This 10-minute clip is worth watching:

If the above video is not available, here's a shorter, 2-minute, version of it:

Winning silver too wrings in changes…
Worth watching this race again & again…

India’s Avinash Sable’s remarkable 3000 m steeplechase performance at #CWG22 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/JPHHhEp5MS

— Syed Akbaruddin (@AkbaruddinIndia) August 7, 2022

Wating for the closing ceremony of the Games to start.

When I forgot my phone in the cab

Once upon a time, mobile phone numbers could be saved only either on the phone or on the SIM. 

If the phone was lost or damaged all the numbers would be lost. Then, there would be frantic attempts to contact everyone who matters to us, in order to get their numbers.

If we were just replacing an existing phone, then the entire lot of numbers had to be transferred on to the new phone.

Then came the new feature of saving these numbers in the cloud -- either on iCloud/iTunes or on Google.

This was a huge relief. No phone number is ever lost, unless one lost access to the cloud account.

I always had an Android phone. So, I am not familiar with how easy or efficient it's to have the contact details backed up on iCloud / iTunes.

In Android it's pretty simple. Whenever a new contact has to be added, the default option is to save it to the Google account. If other accounts have been added, they too show up, besides an option to save it to the phone in the good old way.

The big advantage is that when I get a new phone, I just don't have to worry about the contacts. They are all there when I log into my Google account.

But recently it helped me on another occasion. 

I left my phone in the office cab that dropped me home after work.

I realised it when I entered home. 

There was a colleague of mine in the cab. I could call him or even the driver or the cab manager from my wife's phone. But I didn't know any of their numbers.

Google came to my rescue. 

All that I had to do was open my laptop, and go to my Gmail contacts. I took my colleague's number from there, and called him from my wife's phone.

After dropping my colleague home (luckily not too far from where I stay), the driver took the trouble to come back to my place, and handed over my phone.

(Image by Firmbee from Pixabay)

Weird weather

Once upon a time weather predictions used to go so horribly wrong that forecasters on radio and television were the butt of jokes.

With better technology,  we are able to predict severe weather conditions like cyclones and monsoons more accurately. That helps authorities to take preventive measures to ensure the safety of citizens.

But on a broader level, the climatic conditions that influence weather patterns have varied so much that it's still difficult to predict whether it'll rain or shine in a particular month.

This year, for example, here in Bengaluru, we had barely any summer. We got so much rain during the first half of this year. 

I remember, it used to get quite hot from March onwards to nearly June, when it would begin to rain. In April, we got what used to be called "summer showers" or "April showers".

But this time around with so much rainfall, there has been no clarity on whether it's "summer showers", or "pre-monsoon showers" or "monsoon showers"!

In my school days, that's more than four decades ago, the south-west monsoon set in on Kerala exactly on the first of June. On the dot; there was never a change. Nowadays, it's either early or late.

Recently, Sydney, in Australia, got flooded for the third time this year. That's never happened before.

Right now, Europe is burning with record high temperatures. Just this morning I saw on BBC World News two students saying that during this time the previous year their locality was flooded. And they said it's so scary that this year it's so hot.

The problem is it's difficult to plan travel or holidays. Just because during a particular month in the previous years it was quite pleasant, doesn't mean it'd be so this year too.

(Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay)

Kerala lottery and livelihood

I feel good to be back in the blogosphere after an unusually long break. I was on holiday and I had decided to keep off as many routine stuff as possible.

I was in Kerala, my home state, and like I always do when I am there, I bought lottery tickets. The desire to strike a jackpot is of course there. But that alone is not the reason.

KERALA STATE LOTTERIES

It's a unique Kerala government programme that was started way back in 1967, when renowned communist leader E M S Namboodiripad was the chief minister. The objective was to generate additional revenue and also provide a source of income for the poor who sell the lottery tickets.

Kerala was the first state in India to have such a lottery scheme. Many states since then started similar programmes. 

But subsequently some states -- including Karnataka, where I now live -- banned them, because of an argument that the paper lottery scheme is akin to gambling, which is illegal in India, except in Goa and Sikkim, where there are casinos. 

In Kerala, over the past 50 years, this scheme has grown into a large industry, netting huge revenue for the state government as well as providing a means of sustenance for hundreds of thousand of ticket vendors. 

There is a full-fledged government department, under the ministry of finance, that runs the lotteries.

The very first draw was held on January 26, 1968, with a first prize money of ₹50,000 (about $630 in today's rates), quite a huge sum those days. 

MANY DRAWS, MANY WINNERS

Now, there are seven daily lotteries every week, and six bumper lotteries every year. Each of them has a different prize structure. The highest prize money could be as high as ₹10 crore ($1.2 million)

During each draw, around 250 people have a chance of winning some prize money, under various categories.

There is a draw every day at 3 pm, and it's done in a very transparent manner. In fact, it's streamed live on YouTube. 

The results are published on the web.

WELFARE SCHEMES

There are a slew of government welfare programmes that are run with the money that comes in from the sale of the tickets. 

There is a Welfare Fund Board under the Directorate of Kerala State Lotteries that takes care of the lottery ticket vendors. 

Karunya scheme is one such that supports people who are unable to afford the medical expenses.

LUCKY NUMBER

Last month, when I was in Kerala, I bought two tickets. Each costs ₹40. 

It not just the temptation to try my luck, but the sense of contentment / happiness that the ticket cost goes towards government's welfare schemes that drives me to buy a ticket.

For one of the tickets I bought, I got a prize: ₹500. It's the 2nd time I was lucky; on an earlier occasion, I got ₹100.

The encashment of the prize was easy. I went to an authorised ticket vendor, and submitted the ticket. He scanned the QR code on my ticket using an app on his mobile phone. He confirmed the prize, and handed over the prize money.  

This methods of encashment is only for less than ₹1 lakh. For above that, the winner approaches a bank.

Early morning hues in Kerala

Below is the link to a short, one-minute video clip of early morning while I was travelling by train from Bengaluru to Thiruvananthapuram on June 17. This is somewhere between Kayamkulam and Kollam.

Watch on YouTube. 

Online games and the idea of beauty

(Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay)

The default perception about online games is that they are all bad. No, I won't say that. 

There are many that are good. Those are the ones that challenge you to solve problems and make you think. 

There are some others that improve your general knowledge; or language / mathematical / coordination skills.

They are all fine. 

But what's worrying are the games that play on emotions of children and young adults.

YOU CREATE YOUR OWN STORY

Many of these games are what are called fantasy games in which the player is allowed to create a story by choosing from options that the game presents at regular intervals. Some of them are called 'beauty games', targeted at girls.

I am not going to give examples of such games. Give a web search or go to the play store on your mobile phone. You will find plenty.

These are by no means new. They have been there for decades. 

More and more of them are being created; and the more we get dependent on the internet and phones, the reach and influence of these games too grows.

Many of these games play on the characters' beauty and style; and the story plot involves romance, dating, marriage, and sometimes adult themes and situations.

You as a player can choose things that you think are impressive. Or, you can dress up / glam up a character with the available set of clothes. Or, you can make these characters handsome or beautiful.

Though it is said that you are the protagonist and you can choose how the story develops, it's not exactly so. You don't have a free hand to build a story of your liking. 

Remember these are games, where there are winners and losers depending on your idea of what is beauty. It has to match the standard set by the developers of the games.

That's where the danger lies. 

WHO IS BEAUTIFUL AND WHO IS NOT

The developers of these games have decided who exactly is a handsome man or a beautiful woman; what sort of dress makes them attractive to the opposite gender; what you need to do to win a date; or to get married and lead a happy and successful life.

There is a lot of stereotyping in these games, and that's very harmful. Young boys and girls, by getting hooked on to such games, tend to develop totally falsified ideas of what is beauty, happiness, success, etc.

There is untold emotional damage these games inflict on impressionable minds of boys and girls, and colour their outlook as they grow into adults. 

SOLUTION

There is so much talk about the need for good mental health and well-being. But little is done to check the proliferation of these types of games. 

The only way is to have some sort of parental control. Limit, regulate, supervise children's interactions with games. 

It may not be possible to keep mobile phones away from children, or deny them access to the internet. 

But there is an inbuilt 'parental control' function. All major cyber security products have it. Play stores have it. Make use of it. 

Parents themselves have to be good role models for their children. They need to be careful when they make comments about situations or other people. 

It shouldn't look like they are reinforcing certain stereotypes or they are setting expectations or standards regarding beauty / happiness / success.

There should be a healthy environment at home that will make children feel emotionally secure and comfortable, so that they trust parents more than what they see / hear on the internet or the phone.

I know it is not easy. But parents have to take this important step, for the sake their children and other children.

Post-book blues

The other day I found my friend a bit lost and sort of disoriented. He looked ponderous, and his gaze seemed to be fixed at some faraway object.

I asked him, "What happened? All okay?"

With a smile that conveyed that all is well, he said, "I just finished reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins."

I too have read that psychological thriller by the popular British author, who is one of my favourite writers. 

I quickly realised that my friend was going through what's called post-book blues also called book hangover. 

It's a strange feeling that we get when we have completed reading a book, or nowadays after listening to an audiobook.

When I am immersed in a book for many days (I am a slow reader), I get virtually transported to a different world, in the midst of the characters of the story. The book becomes a lot more engaging and unputdownable towards the end.

Finally, when the last page and the back cover have been turned, there is this inevitable feeling of emptiness and loss, that combines with thoughts of various characters and scenes in the book.

It's all the more intense if the book has gripping plots and subplots that wind through many twists and turns.

If the end is tragic, I get a lump in my throat and my eyes well up.

Of course, it's a temporary phase that passes when I get drawn into my daily routine.

There is a similar feeling that comes over after I watch a movie too. It's much more in a movie theatre than at home in front of a television.  

However, there is a difference - films are at the most three hours long, but the association with a book is much longer.

How about you? Do you feel depressed after reading a book, or watching a film?

(Image by Kranich17 from Pixabay)

Day 26 - Zumba

Video screenshot from Zumba

I haven't gone for it, but I know a few friends who signed up for Zumba classes. They say it's real fun.

Traditional exercises or dance forms can be too formal. Usually, they are bound by a strict pattern of movements, which sort of makes them too regimented.

(Some of the well-known Indian dance forms: Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Odissi etc.)

Zumba adds a liberal dose of entertainment to dance and exercise. There is no water-tight regimen and the routines are flexible, customisable to individual needs, and therefore enjoyable, making it very popular.

Zumba is a trademarked fitness programme that originated in southwest Columbia in the 1990s. It was created by dancer and choreographer Beto Perez, by combining elements from four Latin American dance rhythms: salsa, reggaeton, merengue, and cumbia.

In 2001, Zumba Fitness, LLC, was founded; and in 2011 it arrived in India, one of the over 180 countries where it's now taught and practised.

There is music and a lot of high-impact body movements, including jumping and bouncing. If one is keen on moving into advanced forms, it's better to get prior medical advice.

Like any exercise, Zumba is undoubtedly good for health. It burns calories, loosens joints and muscles, and keeps one agile.

Also, like any exercise, overdoing it won't do any good.

Sources:

Zumba, Mint; WebMD, Wikipedia

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

The series concludes with this post.

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 25 - Yugoslavia

Courtesy: Encyclopaedia Britannica 
(Click on image to enlarge)

Yugoslavia was one of the countries very familiar to Indians once upon a time.

Its Communist ruler Josip Tito was among the leaders, alongside India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who played a key role in the setting up of the Non-Aligned Movement or popularly called NAM.

NAM, established in Yugoslavia's capital Belgrade in 1961, wasn't formally aligned to either the West bloc led by the US or the East bloc led by the once-mighty USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) or the Soviet Union.

Late 1980s and early 1990s were tumultuous times. 

The biggest event then was the collapse of the USSR, with its impact felt worldwide including in India (the privatisation of Indian economy in 1991).

Yugoslavia -- which comprised six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia -- was one of the first countries in East Europe to be impacted by the breakup of the USSR.

One by one constituents of Yugoslavia began declaring independence, starting with Slovenia and Croatia in 1991. 

The Yugoslav Wars, which broke out among the republics, resulted in the deaths / massacre / genocide of hundreds of thousands of people. 

Yugoslavia as a country was finally dissolved in 1992. But the ethnic tensions / violence / insurgency has continued.

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 24 - X

Many, many years ago, in the office where I once worked, a senior colleague used to get irritated whenever replied, "I don't know", to any question of his.

I used to say so because I really didn't know. If I didn't know what else was I supposed to say?

He used to tell me: "You should know. How can you not know?"

If I were to look at it in a positive manner, probably he used to have very high expectations from me; and he expected me to know a lot of things; an answer to every question of his.   

But the fact is how is it possible for anyone to know everything?

I don't think there is anyone who knows everything. Not even science has answers to everything.

Take Covid. Even the best of the world's virologists and doctors don't have all the answers to the mysterious ways the SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2) has been behaving. 

No one knows if and when there will be another variant of the virus or how lethal will that be.  

In spite of a suffusion of information (verified and unverified), amplified today by social media, we all live in the midst of a void. The void of the unknown. 

This unknown springs itself upon us out of the blue -- in the form of surprises both pleasant and unpleasant. 

How much ever we base our lives on science and reasoning, there's always the realm of the unknown.

It's this realm that is filled by our beliefs, thoughts, hopes, aspirations, dreams, prejudices, fears, etc.

Our quest is to more. But, the more we know, the more questions we have.

The known is finite; the unknown is infinite.

The journey never ends.

(Image by Flavio Poletti from Pixabay)

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 23 - Wardrobe

In the wardrobe, there are clothes that were bought many months or even years ago, but have never been worn even once!

But the buying spree continues; and the wardrobe is not just always full, but it's always overflowing!

No, this is not the case with me.

Shopping can be addictive. Someone said it's even therapeutic. You feel very good post-shopping.

If someone has bought a garment, it's because s/he liked it, and therefore wanted to wear it. 

But then, why s/he doesn't wear it after buying it? 

I know friends who keep falling into this trap of "clothes-purchase spree". 

One of them said: "At the store, I like it, but when I come home and see it, I don't feel like wearing it."

Perfectly understandable. Likes and dislikes are very transient, often subject to the influence of mood, ambience, peer group, etc.

Many of my such friends, make it a point not to pile up these brand-new, untouched, unused clothes in the wardrobe. They give them away to someone who likes them / wants them.

A good practice worth emulating.

(Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay)

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 22 - Vaccination

This is something that became extremely popular world over since mid-2020 when a Covid-struck world started thinking about a strong armour to beat the virus. On January 16, 2021, India began its anti-Covid vaccination programme.

It's been controversial too.  But not in India, where there was so much enthusiasm that on the very first day, people complained about technical glitches in the software to manage the programme.

There has been hardly any vaccine hesitancy here. If at all people didn't get jabbed, it was mainly because of complacency or laziness.

Right now, the administration of precaution dose or the booster dose is ongoing. I got mine a few days ago, on Saturday. 

Close to 2 billion doses have been administered in India so far -- first, second and booster put together.

The Union Government's CoWIN dashboard gives all the details.

There have been cases of people developing adverse reactions. But they are just 0.005% of all the people who got immunized.

BETTER BE JABBED THAN BE IN HOSPITAL

It's not that there isn't anyone skeptical of the vaccination, be it of any manufacturer. 

Just yesterday, The Times of India reported quoting experts of the government's own ICMR-National Institute of Virology that both Covishield and Covaxin might be less effective against the latest variant of Omicron for people who haven't already contracted Covid compared to those who had contracted the disease.

But the overwhelming perception seems to be: better get vaccinated (manage the minor fever or body pain, nausea, etc., thereafter, if at all) and be safe rather than contract Covid and get hospitalized.

There is also a feeling that a number of Indians have acquired some amount of herd immunity, thanks to the crowded public places.

INDIA'S NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMME

Getting vaccinated is nothing new for us, since our government has had, for so many decades, a robust vaccination programme even before Covid happened.

A baby is vaccinated against BCG, Hepatitis B, and polio soon after birth.

Then follows, at regular intervals, more doses of vaccines against:

• polio
   
• diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type b (pentavalent vaccine)
  
  
• rotavirus
  
  
• measles, mumps and rubella
  
  
• Japanese Encephalitis
  
  
• deficiencies of vitamin A
  
  
• DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) booster doses and 
  
  
• tetanus 

All this ends only when the child is 16 years of age.

The only difference between these vaccines and the Covid vaccines is that the latter were developed very recently, at a hectic pace, against a deadline, without probably as many trials as probably they would have required, to fight a disease that we are yet to understand fully.

The way I see it is: it's better to get vaccinated than not.

Image by cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 21 -- Umami

Umami is the fifth basic taste, in addition to sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

This taste was discovered by a Japanese chemist and professor at the Japanese Imperial University Kikunae Ikeda way back in 1908. 

The research that led to his discovery was the result of a feeling he had that the popular Japanese dish 'kombu dashi' had a taste that didn't exactly belong to the four known tastes. 

This dish is a form of broth made of kelp, a type of seaweed. Finally, Ikeda was able to trace this unique taste to glutamate, an amino acid.

Now umami has been officially recognised by scientists around the world as the fifth basic taste.

What contributed to the official confirmation of umami as the fifth basic taste was the discovery, exactly 20 years ago, in 2002, that there are specific taste receptors in our taste buds that do respond to amino acids.

Amino acids are one of the building blocks of proteins in our body.

Glutamates are commonly found in a variety of food like mushrooms, ripe tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, spinach, cheeses, shrimp pastes, fish sauce, soy sauce, fish, shellfish, etc.

The umami taste is said to be best provided by monosodium glutamate or MSG, a more stable powdered form obtained by adding sodium. Arguably, the most famous commercial MSG-based product is the condiment Ajinomoto. 

MSG has been controversial since 1968 when it was reported that it could be behind certain health issues. A large number of studies have been done, but it hasn't been conclusively proven, though some people do react adversely to MSG.

It is said that one of the reasons why we generally crave for food like cheese and chips with ketchup is the presence of glutamate, and thereby the umami taste.

Source:

• The man who discovered umami / BBC
  
  
• Is MSG as bad as it’s made out to be? / BBC
  
  
• Umami: why the fifth taste is so important / The Guardian
  
  
• What is umami? / Ajinomoto 
  
  
• Image credit: Ajinomoto

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 20 -- Thunder

Loud sound puts me off, generally. I don't like firecrackers. One exception: thunder.

Kerala, where I was during my school and college days, gets a lot of rain accompanied by lightning and thunder. So, most houses, especially in hilly areas, have lightning conductors atop them. Our house had one.

Also, in Kerala, when there is lightning and thunder, people unplug electrical devices as they could possibly get damaged.

All said and done, I like that occasional streak of light in the sky and the roar that rumbles thereafter.

Not actually "thereafter", our physics teacher had told us in school. 

The sound is the result of the sudden expansion of air because of the high-voltage electricity that lightning produces; and both happen simultaneously. 

One of the fun activities in my school days was to determine how far away was the lightning. It's simple. 

Sounds travels at around 340 m in one second. Or, it takes 5 seconds for sound to travel one mile. It varies depending upon temperature and pressure.

I used to count the number of seconds it took for me to hear the thunder; and I multiplied that by 340.  The lightning was that many meters away. (Or divide the number of seconds by 5; it's that many miles away.)

My mother was scared of lightning and thunder. She always asked me to close the windows. In my excitement, I used to plead with her to keep the windows open, so I could see the lightning. 

But later, I realised that she was right: it's safer to keep the windows closed, because colder air conducts electricity better than glass window panes.

They are dangerous, I know. Last year, more than 70 people died in various parts of India after they were struck by lightning. 

Lighting and thunder is very rare -- just a few days in a whole year -- where I live now, Bengaluru. 

Rains are different when there is an occasional lighting and thunder. I don't know if I should say that I miss them. 

I don't want them to be close by. Let them be far away, giving me enough time to count quite a few seconds before I hear that clap. 

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Image credit: Pixabay

Day 19 - So

"So, I bought a new phone!"

So, how was your day?

So, it has been raining since morning today. 

So, I am travelling to Delhi this evening.

Here, we are not referring to so as a conjunction (a word that joins two sentence). For example, It's raining so I am not going out.

We are referring to beginning a conversation with the word so.

I have heard many people using it that way. Are you one of them?

Apparently, Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, is one of them. 

Textbook grammar says one should never begin a sentence (much less a conversation) with a conjunction like so, and, or, etc.

The proponents of its such usage say it sets a context to start a discussion or a conversation; and it sounds more natural that way. Something like a substitute for "You know, .. Well, ... " etc.

They say when you start a conversation with: "So, I am travelling to Delhi this evening", it means "I have been wanting to tell you about my travel plans ..." Or, "Well, there is a change of plan, so I am travelling to Delhi this evening."

However, the opponents say, it is not only grammatically wrong but it also makes the speaker sound a bit defensive (for some unknown reason) saying something that the listener wouldn't be prepared to hear.

I am not one of those who would begin a conversation with so because it sounds a bit odd when I hear someone use it in that manner. 

Language is all about usage, is it not? If it conveys the right meaning, then the usage should be deemed to be right!

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Image credit: Pixabay

Day 18 - Railways

The view from the top of our apartment complex

There is something about the trains that's fascinating -- may be the length of the train, may be the way it goes on the track, may be the sound ...  

When I think of Indian Railways, what comes to mind are the vastness of the network, and the convenience of booking and travelling.

Once upon a time, it was such a pain, especially during the holidays.

In the early 1990s, when we were in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, we used to take the Rajkot - Trivandrum Express to go to our home state Kerala.

That was a time, when the reservation network was just computerised in the railway offices. 

Since people could easily book tickets from anywhere in the country to travel between any two places, trains got fully booked within about half an hour!

(Before computerisation, if one had to travel from, say, Mumbai to Delhi, one had to book from Mumbai railway station. One could do it from any other place as well, but that was a very tedious process.)

So, even though the railway counter opened at 8.30 am, I would be at the Ahmedabad railway station as early as 5 am so that I was well ahead in the queue. 

Imagine standing in the the queue for more than 3 hours. Yes, those were the days! 

I can't believe the convenience internet and mobile phones have brought about. During my recent Chennai trip, I cancelled one ticket and booked another one, all in less than 10 minutes while travelling in a cab!

During a trip to Mangaluru in 2019

This month, it's 169 long years since the first railway track in the Indian subcontinent was laid. That was on the 16th of April 1853 - a stretch of 21 miles or 34 kilometers, between Bombay and Thane.

In the East, a track was commissioned the next year, August 15th, between Howrah and Hoogly, 24 miles or 39 km.

Trains began running in south India in 1856, when on July 1, a 63 mile (101 km) long track was opened between Arcot and Veyasarpandy.

In the North, on March 3, 1859, a 119 mile (192 km) long line was made functional between Allahabad and Kanpur.

Indian Railways has come a long way since.

It's among the largest rail networks in the world.

Its tracks run 1,08,706 km across the length and breadth of the nation.

As many as 13,169 passenger trains run daily, touching 7,325 stations across the country.

The fully air-conditioned Garib Rath 
at Kochuveli, Kerala, in 2016

The vast network might not be of airline standards. But it's convenient, comfortable and affordable. 

Not surprisingly, every day, 23 million (2 crore 30 lakh) people travel on 13,169 passenger trains that touch 7,325 stations across the country.

One of my post-retirement activities would be to travel around the country on trains.

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Day 17 - Quarantine

Easily, the most common, Q word, these days. It just generally means isolation, though of course there is a technical difference.

Isolation is when you are infected and you stay away from others.

Quarantine is when you might not be actually sick or infected, but you have a doubt that you might be. So in order to avoid the risk of infecting others in case you are infected, you stay away from others.  

Quarantine is a phenomenon that Covid brought into our lives. In 2020, in August-September, I was in quarantine thrice. Not because I had Covid, but people I came in contact with had Covid.

Now we are living in an era, when even if someone sneezes or coughs, even if intermittently, others would move away! Most employers discourage their employees from coming to office even if they have cold / cough.   

Though Covid Era might not have ended, the Quarantine Era seems to have ended.

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Image credit: Pixabay

Day 16 - Pogono-

Many men, including yours truly, gave up shaving during the pandemic. 

The last time I did that was more than 20 years ago, and that phase lasted around six or seven years, if I remember right.

This time around, two factors worked as an encouragement to put the razor away one fine morning and the next day and the next.

One, I was confined to home, and even if my colleagues saw me, I was a distant image on a corner of my phone or laptop screen.

Two, even when I stepped out, any probable scruffy look was very well masked.

This beard acquired a moniker too - quarantine beard!

There are various interpretations of what a beard conveys, depending on its length and looks, and also how the viewer perceives it -- sadness, resignation, wisdom, spirituality, maturity, concern, seniority, authority ... 

Even though we aren't done with Covid yet, our lives have pretty much limped back to the times before the virus wreaked havoc. 

I am now wondering if and when I should pick up the razor again. But a few appreciative nods and comments have meant that the facial hair will stay for now.

Here are a few words associated with beard:

• Pogonotrophy - Growing of beard
  
  
• Pogonotomy - Cutting / shaving of beard
  
  
• Pogonology - Study of beards
  
  
• Pogonophile - Someone who loves beard
  
  
• Pogonophobia - hatred of beard

Now you know why I wrote about beard today!

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Image credit: Pixabay

Day 15 - Oxford comma

Which of the two following sentences is correct?

For breakfast today, I had bread, butter, cheese and jam.

For breakfast today, I had bread, butter, cheese, and jam.

The only difference in the above two sentences is the comma before 'and'.

Both are okay, since the meaning remains the same.

This comma is called the 'Oxford comma'. It comes after the penultimate item and before 'and' or 'or' in a list of items.

It's so called because Oxford University Press introduced it around 1900 to reduce ambiguity while listing out items.  

SHOULD WE USE IT OR NOT?

What I learnt in school was that when you list a number of items, you don't need a comma before 'and' or 'or' because the conjunction (and / or) brings in the pause and clarity which otherwise is provided by the comma.

However, now I realise that the style books of some organisations (like The Chicago Manual of Style, Garner's Modern American Usage) mandate its use; while those of others (like Associated Press Stylebook and The New York Times Style Book) don't.

Interestingly, while The Oxford Style Manual is for it, the University of Oxford Style Guide is against it.

Some, like The Economist, leave it to the context of the usage.

I don't use it, if it isn't required. 

WHEN IS IT REQUIRED

Look at this sentence:

Nimmy gave the bunch of flowers to her parents, Susan and Chris.

Since there is no Oxford comma, I will presume that Susan and Chris are Nimmy's parents.

If they are not, then you need an Oxford comma. 

Nimmy gave the bunch of flowers to her parents, Susan, and Chris.

Or, list them in a different order:

Nimmy gave the bunch of flowers to Susan, Chris and her parents.

So be careful, punctuations (actually not just the Oxford comma) can alter meanings!

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.