TWENTY TWENTY

Listening to the music and getting inebriated with the rounds of vodka mixed with lime cordial on the new year eve party on 31st December 2019 @ Hotel Le Meridien, Kochi; wishing goodbye to the year 2020 and awaiting the clock to chime 12.00 soon, there wasn’t any indication or a thought in me to make a guess, on how bad the year 2020 is going to roll out before us. 

Yes, almost an year later, sitting at home on the eve of Christmas of 2020, thinking really how bad have the year 2020 been, mainly due to Corina virus, feeling sick of the new normals; e-meeting, e-commerce, WFH, Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet and all; I now yearn to get out, travel and see people and move closely to interact with them to enjoy their company that I always naturally did but the wretched news of the virus coming back in different version, is it going to be a repeat of the year 2020, next year too? It is indeed trepidation times........

 

Did anything go right in 2020? The businesses got screwed up, the economy went deep down south, people lost jobs, everyone got locked down for months together, relatives returned from Middle East & other nations after having lost their livelihood, many becoming sick with some dying early deaths and all that still continuing, no celebrations and no get-togethers, with predictions of another wave to come by. Preposterous indeed! 

 

Just before it all began, my daughter and S-i-L shifted to Cochin by changing their jobs, settling down in the modernistic surroundings of DLF township @ Kakkanad with our dear granddaughter, whose company we always relished. While the dreaded virus restricted the movements, taking chance to visit them or get visited by them, of course, with lots of elapsed time in between, kept our happiness alive.

 

By early April, daughter the teacher announced her second pregnancy, which though should have given us more happiness to hear, got me worried initially, thinking of the times that we were passing though. Though my reaction was unappreciated by my daughter; my wife, as she always has been, was more relaxed, not only took the news pleasantly but also spent time in making me understand things in perspective. While externally I did put up a brave face, inside I was trembling, because it added to the challenge that we already have, the 85 year old mother of my wife with us, an asthmatic through-out her life, also who had undergone a mild MI in the last month of 2019. All these kept me indoors most of the time, though at times, I evaded the guilt to meet a client or two in a week, wearing all the precautions of social distancing. Thank God, our daughter delivered a healthy boy on the last day of November, but not before giving us anxious moments due to Placenta Abruption which necessitated a surgery. 

 

By August-September, our son, who is researching on brain sciences in Caltech at Pasadena California, gave us the fantastic news of his article being published by Nature, the mother of all scientific journals, a dream come true for any researcher worth his salt!  Having not seen him in person for close to two years now, gave us such heartburns but my wife’s prompt exercise of engaging him daily on WhatsApp, gave us his (virtual) presence at home practically all the days. He still has miles to go, his guide, the famous Prof. David Anderson, (author: The Neuroscience of Emotion: A New Synthesis) who had been able to get MS Cofounder Paul Allen and entrepreneur TianQiao to support his research with Billions of dollars of endowments, while still grappling with the primitive but representative brain of Fruit-fly and Jellyfish to unravel the process of emotional flow in neural networks, is slowly entrusting the mathematical and computing models of the research to our son’s care. 

 

Good thing it was that my wife started using her time creatively in this pandemic year by deep diving into mural and acrylic painting, going through newer learnings and by coming out with some beautiful creations and exhibiting it online through some leading platforms. Also, following our sons footsteps, she is learning piano and getting it certified by the Trinity School. She has miles to go but her passion at this age indeed surprises me. All the best to her! 

 

Another development is the S-i-L, daughter and grandchildren coming to stay with us. Daughter on post-delivery leave and S-i-L getting transfer orders to go work in Hong Kong by the next year beginning. Suddenly there is lots of people at home and it is noisy but such a blessing with 2 grandchildren around, boy, aren’t we sapped out by the day end?

 

Coming back to self, what have I been doing to match up with the creativity on the other side? Nothing much at all! My book on entrepreneurship in Malayalam which was four fifth done, is still in that shape and the English translation of my Malayalam book ‘Shubhayatra’, though complete, is still to be finally read before being handed over to the publisher. My novel on the splintered ‘tharavad’ of south Kerala have not left my grey-matters to the pages. Am I at my procrastination best? It looks like so. The only redemption is the blog and the LinkedIn postings that I do regularly on matters contemporary…..

 

So what keeps me going? The usual pro bono stuff, the mentoring of the start-ups & early ventures through Zoom and Google meet, the visiting professorship at some institutions and the keynote address at many professional podiums & institutions on varied subjects. Am I making any money? Doing some consulting, I do make some pittance, but when did I seriously look at making money? Ha ha!  Yes, I do enjoy the professionally conducted board meeting every quarter of a leading listed NBFC’s fully owned subsidiary where I am an independent director and that gives my travelling out too, in these pandemic times.

 

As a professional-body man, having been part of leading managerial, entrepreneurial and L&D bodies on the one side and movements such as Rotary & Career counselling Services, servinf differently abled children etc. at the other; all of these happen now on the neo-normal routes (online-virtual). As usual, my hands are full and it is something I actualise, of course, at the cost of my creative writing! There is some national level involvement that I do in the country’s premier L&D organisation too. Here, I must make a conscious mention of my waning interest on the entrepreneur’s body whose chapter I helped found in Kerala. It is  partly due to the fact that it isn’t doing much for the true beneficiaries and partly due to the inwardness of its key players, the body is now slowly progressing into a chitchat club of the rich & famous and that of single malt drinkers! I am seriously thinking on what I should do of my association with it for it having lost its raison d’etre. 

 

So, what is going to be my resolutions for the New Year 2021? Absolutely nothing, I will take everything as it comes by and if possible, I will complete my books. The 61 years of running around is slowly helping me understand the real ordinariness of everything and the insignificance of life.

Sayonara 2020

CLINGING TO THE ‘STATUS QUO’

This was a story told by former Addl. Chief Secretary of Kerala, Late Babu Paul IAS.

When he was the CMD of Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP), while making the rounds of the factory, saw a freshly painted word “Dunne” on the newly calibrated boiler with two dots under it. 

He checked with Chief Engineer as to what does it signify

The chief said, “After calibrating the boiler every six months, we paint this on it sir”

CMD: “But why? Does it mean the calibration is ‘done’? If so, there is a spelling mistake”

Chief Engineer: “Don’t know sir, we have been following it from the beginning”

Surprised at the lack of logic (that too coming from an engineer), Babu Paul checked up on why there is a “Dunne” on the boiler. As he went back on time, he read that the first utility serives engineer of TTP was an Irishman (TTP was commissioned before independence) with a surname ‘Dunne’. So every time after calibrating the boiler, he paint his signature with the date, to indicate the timeline. 

After TTP becoming a Kerala Government enterprise, no one bothered to understand the reason and maintained status quo by painting ‘Dunne’ after every calibration. 

Yes, change is very difficult to happen! And people cling to status quo, even if it defies logic!

THE CASE OF THRISSUR BUSINESSMEN

I used to say in many of my keynotes that you put all Thrissur businessmen on one said of the balance and all the businessmen from 13 other districts of Kerala on the other, the Thrissur side of the balance, will not  lift up. 

There is some thing more deeper here. 

The south side of Malabar coast ends in Kodungallur (Crangannur or Muziris) and traders (വർത്തകർ) from all over the world, particularly from Middle East used to visit it for more than two millennia. And business flourished in that town for long. 

When King Shaktan Thampuran wanted Thrissur to come up, seeing the shortage of businessmen there, he sent for those Nasrani [originals + converts (മാർഗം കൂടിയവർ)]from Kodungallur to come down to Thrissur to set up businesses and gave them many privileges. Thus the city started with a strong business ecosystem, set up by the migrants (വരുത്തർ) of international dimension and global connect. 

The financial institutions flourished there from the mid 19th century and all through the 20th century (Banks - Lord Krishna, South Indian, Dhanalaxmi, Catholic Syrian, now ESAF). The base of all these were the Chit fund companies that flourished there. Chitti is the contribution of Thrissur businessmen to Kerala. 

Working for HCL in the mid 80s, I must have visited not less than 100 Chitti (കുറി) companies in Thrissur round itself, of Limited company status, all headed by businessmen in their 60s & 70s. Even Kerala Govt. headquartered its Chit fund company (KSFE) in Thrissur. That is the hereditary advantage Thrissur had in financial sector. 

Lastly, in spite of big businesses that they held, the businessmen were very rooted to earth (humble, servant leadership). They will have the ഒറ്റമുണ്ട് (dhoti),  ജുബ്ബ (shirt but many times, topless) and the തോർത്ത് (Kerala towel) on the shoulders. Talk to this ഈനാശു (person),you wouldn’t realise that at home he could simply pick up 2 crores rupees from the കുടം, just like that. 

Simple living, god fearing, hardworking with deep business sense and clear focussed money-making ability of these personas gave Thrissur the status what it has today. 

Like the Marvari, Sindhi, Gujrati, Chettiar & Mangalori businessmen, Thrissur businessmen are a breed apart and what is more astounding is the fact that the distribution of the money is not with one community as we see in other places. Here whether Hindu (of all caste), Muslim or Christian, they are identified by the business first. 

While all of these are latently recognised, there aren’t much of written documentation of the Thrissur businessmen and their original ecosystem. Many fantastic business case study possibilities exist for Thrissur.

RCEP - A CHINESE COUP

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) had come into existence on Sunday the 15th November 2020. It is a trade block, a mega one at that, consisting of 10 prominent South Asian countries and China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan & South Korea. 

Analysts say that RECP is the largest trade agreement today, demoting the US-Mexico-Canada and the European Union trade agreements to lower places. RECP members account for 30% of the global GDP, giving it a strong muscle

When the discussions were underway, India was part of it but last year, it withdrew; the reason being China’s prominence, with which India was undergoing challenges at the multiple levels. Now, as an emotional decision, it could be termed as an economic loss but whether India has some economic or global trade plans up its sleeve to counter it, is still not known. The RCEP has announced that if India wants to join it, it has to apply again. Will India? Doubtful

China indeed had become one hell of a global power (and, a bully!), very strategic, at the same time, very opaque one at that. It was  expected of China to have major post Covid economic challenges. But by astute, clever, deft moves, it is ensuring long term survivability and sustenance.  

Nations have many things to learn...

SAME FESTIVAL, CELEBRATED FOR DIFFERENT REASONS

Diwali (Deepavali) is the largest celebrated festival in India but, it is celebrated across Indian geography, by the communities, for different reasons.

North India celebrates is as the day of arrival of Rama back at Ayodhya, after defeating Ravana.

Western India celebrates Diwali in deference to Lord Vishnu sending the demon King Bali to nether world. 

South India is Celebrating it for Lord Krishna defeating the demon, Narakasura on this day.

To the Buddhists, it is a celebration as the day of return of Gautam Buddha to Kapilavastu after 18 years of leaving it.

The Sikhs celebrates Diwali in honour of the release of their sixth guru Hargobind-ji from imprisonment

The Jains mark Diwali as the nirvana day of Lord Mahavira

 

The diversity called India finds its unity in this festival, though celebrated for different reasons! 

In the north, where festivities are the highest, it is a 5 day affair.

Day 1. Home is cleaned so that good fortune can come in without hesitation.

Day 2. Dhanteras, clay lamps are lit  & rangoli is put on the floor, auspicious day for procuring gold and ornaments. 

Day 3. Lakshmi Puja, feast and fireworks

Day 4. Visit friends and relatives and giving gifts

Day 5. Bhai Dooj, brothers visit their married sisters  and are given lavish meal 

Whatever be the myth behind, Diwali is looked forward to by the Indians every year, year after year. The getting together of families, of giving & receiving  gifts, of celebrating colourfully with firecrackers, and happy times across communities and forgetting the difficulties of the time being, are the elements in this festival.  

Diwali is indeed bad times for owls in India. Owl is Goddess Lakshmi’s vehicle (‘vaahan’) and if it is killed, people think that Lakshmi will not be able to move out of their homes and stay put, to their  happiness. Due to this superstition, lot of owls are sacrificed during Diwali. Though banned by law, illegally it still happens in deep rural north India where thousands of owls are butchered on these days. 

Notwithstanding this negativity, in this festival season, here is wishing everyone, all the happiness that you can get! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERALA!

Today, on the 1st of November, 2020, Kerala celebrates its 64th birthday. 

Post independence in 1947, the three constituent kingdom that formed Kerala was under the Madras Province. And it took almost 10 years for the state of Kerala to come into existence. 

The Travancore dynasty of south Kerala, the largest among the constituents, has been an extension of the long-standing  AY kingdom. The Kochi kingdom could be deemed as an extension of the Chera dynasty and the Zamorins up north, ruled from one of the most ancient cosmopolitan cities of the world, Kozhikode; which controlled the most famous trade destination on Indian subcontinent, the well known Malabar coast.   

When the state got formed, Kerala was indeed a loser. The most Important part of Travancore, Nagercoil and Kanyakumari, should have been very much part of Kerala (remember, the Travancore Kingdom’s ancestors came from Padmanabhapuram which is in Tamilnadu today). The indifference of Tiru-Kochi Chief Minister Pattom Thanu Pilla was the reason for the loss. We ended up in having a part of Karnataka (Kasargod) with us in lieu of Kanyakumari  (in fact majority of people of Kasargod do not speak Malayalam even now, they  speak Tulu & Kannada. Malayalam went there only after Christian farmers from central Kerala started migrating to Kasargod  along with the Muslim traders from Kozhikode / Kannur. 

The democratic process of the state happened with a world record, of Communist party getting elected to power for the first time in the world. And even today, it continues to be the only state in the country with an elected communist party led government. 

So, in addition to Communism what are the other unique features of Kerala? 

1. High HDI, comparable to the developed nations of the world

2. A sought after tourist destination of the world with the sea-backwater-hill combo; all connected by the picturesque green background 

3. A fairly distributed religious representation having balanced communal harmony. 

4. The migrant Malayali, dwelling all over the world, sending record remittance back home, year after year, for his state and people to survive 

5. Highly literate state with high-end cerebral manpower

6. Less corrupted system with democratic power devolved all the way down to the villages. 

What are challenges the state is facing now? 

 1. A fast ageing population with the able-bodied people away, working elsewhere 

2. Poor infrastructure developments with a financially crippled state 

3. No sustainably productive economic system, we are mostly consumer centric ! 

4. Decreasing quality of education system (which  produced best professionals once), having failed to catch up with the best in the world 

5. Higher political uncertainty, high unemployment and politically induced narrow casteism / communism rearing  its head now trying to destroy the State’s social fabric.

Success of Kerala so far had been due to the strong basic fundamentals in education, Health and the practise of societal equality (Communism being responsible for that). Whatever being touted during the formation of the State such as the revolutionary land reforms act, militant labour etc., are now standing as hurdles to the economic progress of the State. Lack of production capability had retarded our exports and foreign exchange earnings. 

For Kerala to come out of the stationery position prevailing for long, a totally out of the box thought process and innovations based on that must happen here. We are stuck for a long time, with the messy bureaucratic policies. There is a huge leadership vacuum that exists in our executives. 

It is time, we revamped the existing policies and adapted ourselves to imbibe the fast moving future trends into the state’s future strategies.

AHAM BRAHMASMI

God is a man made hypothesis. With the growth of civilisations over many millennia, most of the unexplainable things were put in the ‘God’ box. None objected  when told, “that’s the way God wanted it”. Initially people saw God in thunder and lightning, then, in reptiles and animals and thereafter in fellow spiritual beings.  

 

Some smart people started introspecting life, the reason and purpose of it. Whatever they understood, they started explaining. They pointed out living as the response to one’s own activities and behaviour. The cause and effect theory, the life response theory, the action reaction theory etc. came to be explained. Those who did the explanations came to be viewed as prophets, seers and spiritual heads. And they taught how to become realised. As time went by centuries, some of these people got placed by the followers into God position. Those who followed such “Gods” came under the group of religion and communities. Postulations propagated by the so called “God” became the law (God’s saying) and followers accepted it without question. The faithfuls went on to blindly believe these postulations as the only truth and those  propagated by others as the ‘wrong ones’. The right and the wrong started getting seen from the prism of the religions that each was part of. 

 

The ‘Gods’ could not sit inactive (if so, what ‘God’?!) so those mighty, representing the God within the community (the priest, clergy, the kings & the rulers) went on taking his name for all sorts of self-made judgements & justifications and had them pronounced  as the Gods’ discretion. Fear, uncertainty, adversity and unknowns were used effectively by these ruthless middlemen to keep the people under control. Poor gullible, vulnerable but hopeful people! 

 

As the civilisations progressed, as the people numbers increased, resource mobilisation started (as homes came into being) and as people became urbanised, the self centered-ness increased and social behaviour such as love, compassion, empathy, helpfulness etc., diminished. 

 

But God went on becoming more active and more powerful through the middlemen leaders and they created the instances of hatred through their pronouncements of the  good and bad. The logic and reasons went to dogs, and selfishness, intolerance, nonacceptance prevailed and fatwas (in all religions) came to be pronounced. 

 

So where is God? 

 

He is in heavens (a place beyond the clouds). It is such a freaky place. Depending upon which faith is followed, the place have dancers, virgins, houris,  angels; all living in eternal bliss, drinking nectar, aided and monitored by the Chitragupt’s & St. Gabriel’s. It became an unseen but hopelessly  hopeful place for the men on earth. Earth came to be viewed as a transit point where one spends some time before reaching eternal abode of heaven ! 

 

However did anyone ever try to find the God while being here? The majority didn’t bother! While lots of people are waiting to reach the heavenly abode to be with God, a few tried to see the God here. As he contemplated the scriptures & philosophies, as he found the inference & insights, as he observed behaviours & actions of others, as he saw the life responses happening to his fellow being;  he understood  the action-reaction and the cause-effect. This realisation gave him peace. And he searched further.....

 

And as he started managing himself, it slowly dawned on to him that his God is within him. It resides inside him and makes him behave with love, compassion, empathy, positivity, altruism, helpfulness and happiness. All these feelings, he realised as nothing but the manifestations of the God within. The more he behaved in this manner, the more Godly he became. His thoughts went into higher planes, he became calm, contented and happy. In his fellow beings he saw God and his respect for them went up manifold and in their collective welfare he rejoiced. And, as he realised the meaning of his existence, he said, “Aham Brahmasmi” and he called out to his fellow beings; “tattvamassi” 

THE CHEMISTRY NOBEL PRIZE - 2020

 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 was awarded jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier (Institut Pasteur, Paris) and Jennifer A. Doudna (Univ. of California, Berkeley) "for the development of a method for genome editing."

They have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with high precision. This technology will have revolutionary impact on the life sciences, particularly in cancer therapy and of curing inherited diseases.

While the award is for chemistry, it could be viewed from multiple disciplines of science; biology, physics (genetic engineering) & chemistry as there is quiet a bit of overlap of multiple science streams in this discovery 

While Nobel price was bestowed with a positive intent  on the possibility of curing diseases and bringing out disease free humans), definitely there is a negative side, the misuse of this technology, something that the world started worrying from the time Watson and Crick discovered the human genetic code. 

Lastly the Nobel prize recognition is a sweet revenge for Charpentier & Doudna, though they did the discovery, the patent of this genetic technology is held by someone else and that we call the ‘game of science’

WHY ‘QUAD’ IS IMPORTANT TO INDIA

QUAD started in 2007 as a security dialogue between 4 nations; US, Australia, Japan & India. Its focus was on South China seas, where Indian Ocean meets the Pacific Ocean, the waters where China always showed its aggression. The QUAD initiative was the brainchild of the them Japanese Prime Minister, to be a counter to the Chinese aggression. Due to geopolitics, this initiative went dormant by very next year. 

Post cold-war era, unbeknown to many, China was building up as a global super power (including military). 25 years later, with autocratic Xi Jinping at the top, its aggressive expansionist capabilities have come out in open. 

Having seen, what was feared had happened, the dialogue got rejuvenated in 2018 & it again became an active endeavour between the 4 nations to protect the nations (and ally’s) on the brim of South China Seas, 

Later to 2015, India tried to cosy up to China and its top leaders have had many public shows of the the ‘second honeymoon’ (first was between Nehru & Zouh Enlai in 1950s) but all that had ended now with the fiasco at Galwan, Ladakh.

An active QUAD is a strong deterrent to Chinese expansionist ambitions. The oceans had always been a focal point, both in peace & war; and jointly balancing them, can take care of any aggression. 

It is time, India went into QUAD in full hog.

THE FARMER’S BILL

Lot had been written about it now. And agitations abound, across the nation. If it was a simple matter to oppose, the noises would have died down by now. But, why is the fight spreading and why the highest of courts is approached against its implementation? 

Touted as the mother of all reforms in agriculture, it is supposed to be LPG of agricultural economy. Funnily this is exactly what both the BJP and the Congress promised in its election manifesto, in 2019. So why should it be viewed so negatively by Indian farmers, and that forced Akali Dal to come out of the ruling NDA alliance?

First, of course, is the resistance to change. And the fear, uncertainties and doubts about the bill’s proper implementation. The well rooted APMC system in the big agriculture states like Punjab, Haryana, UP and MP Is made redundant now with the bills. These states, who used to collect mandi taxes to the tune of 3-5000 crores per annum that enabled them to give free electricity and water to the farmers, are losing it (and if that happens, there would start another huge agitation). And above all, agriculture is considered as a concurrent subject in our constitution, of the federal structure of the country, is now taken over by the centre! So, there is politics in it too. 

Middlemen, mandi & state aside, farmers truly worry that the centre is taking away the minimum selling price protection and feel that a liberated market for agricultural produces will be taken over by the corporates who will push down the prices, bringing financial troubles to farmers.

There are exponents speaking in favour of both sides. So, it is very difficult to arrive at what will happen post its implementation. But if demonetisation of currency by the government is any indication, then there is some reason behind the  farmers worrying.  

DEAD HATHRAS GIRL SPEAKS

Is born dalit my sin? 

It is my parents who willed

I dreamt to be rich 

And a life, having no end !

No poverty, I asked for 

I wanted a good life 

Folks said, ‘go cut the grass’,

Feeding cattle, for us to live

Four men attacked me at work

Bullies, men of upper cast 

Wanting fun and sex at my cost

Chastity, dignity and life, I lost

None bothered, my story gave 

High TV channel rating

All the noise will die down 

Fearing the power’s onslaught 

I know fully well now, the

Country seeks no daughters,

Yes, no dirty dalits too!

Both dispensable, easily, anytime! 

Dead I am now, killed

By men’s brute powers 

And burnt alone by night

Why do I get treated thus?

HUMAN IMMUNITY MECHANISM

Immunity is our body’s ability to fight the virus and bacteria that are harmful to it. It comes in two ways; inborn and adaptive.

Inborn immunity is the innate ability of the body to quickly jump at protecting it against the intruder. It is a set of ever ready and ever vigilant cells that attack  the intruding pathogen instantly, to kill it, mostly succeeding but failing at times as the intruder may come in large numbers and its intensity, much higher. 

Adaptive immunity is what the body acquires as it goes through the infection. Adaptive immunity comes from two types of white blood cells; T & B.

T cells detect the molecular details of the pathogen and based on it, produce a targeted response on the intruder to kill it. T cells also manage and control the early attack by inborn immunity which is called ‘cytokine storm’. Excessive response of the cytokine storm can destroy the lung tissues, thereby creating acute respiratory distress, leading to short supply of oxygen to internal organs, resulting in multiple organ failure and possibly death. 

B cells produce the antibody, a protein that sticks on viral particle, binding it and  blocking it from entering our cells, thus, stopping the infection on its track. 

Antibody in the blood peaks during infection and wanes, as the infection recedes. However, a waning antibody doesn’t mean that our immunity is low and we are susceptible to infection. T & B cells retain the memory of the infection and the the memory cells continue to stay in blood. If another infection starts on the body, memory cells charge up to produce a new bunch of antibodies to fight it

What a fantastic defence mechanism our body has!

SCIENCE, SEX & SEDITION [Revisiting the ISRO spy scandal of 1994 - an individual understanding]

 This reading could give some reasonable clarity on:

 1.     What actually caused the ISRO Spy Scandal in 1994?

2.     How people are sacrificed to protect the deep State secrets?

3.     Why Kerala Press and media was/is not objective in its reporting?

4.     How could a serious but unconnected case make strange political connotations?

5.     How arrogance bring about one’s downfall?

 

Due to limited global sanctions against India on account of its un-allowed indulgence in Atomic energy sector, the country faced many difficulties during 1970s and beyond. Thus, Indian space and atomic energy institutions and establishments weren’t allowed to procure or avail high-end technology gadgets & knowhow from outside, making it the reason for India making its own super computer and reaching self-reliance in harnessing the space and atomic energy technologies

As a part of it, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was denied the know-how of cryogenic engine technology, an integral part of India’s advanced GSLV project, which otherwise would have come from Russia, that stood as a stumbling block to the progress of nation’s space research programs. 

To overcome this, with the blessing and permission from the powers that be, Indian scientists used some clandestine methods to gain access to this technology from Russia, of course, with the Russian establishment closing its eyes. The act was to bring some of the second rung space scientists from Russia and work with them at Trivandrum labs of ISRO (with VSSC, LPSC and other bull-work of the space research happening in Trivandrum). Nambi Narayanan, being the leader of the research project at ISRO, was entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the scientists here at TVM that included their work, stay, food, entertainment & Vodka (remember, they were Russians !). He was allocated unaccounted funds for that. The scientists were staying in Trivandrum as tourists. 

Nambi Narayanan (NN) was one of the reckoned top scientists in ISRO at that time, the face of the cryogenic technology and the blue eyed boy of the bosses. Naturally, things had gone into his head and many times he was showing this off, making more enemies than friends within, something that had resulted in him getting ostracised from fraternity, after his downfall. 

Naturally, these Russian scientists were here on clandestine mission for helping India acquire the cryogenic engine technology. Staying in guest houses and hotels, they were getting deprived of the physiological necessity of sex. Hearing it, and in order to keep their spirits high, NN decided on to organise this service for them in Trivandrum. 

During those days (80s & 90s), Trivandrum had been the Switzerland for Maldivians, having direct flight connection. Most of their health issues were resolved in Trivandrum hospitals like Cosmopolitan, GG, SUT etc. Some of the impoverished but smart ladies from Maldives also came in and utilised the opportunity to make money by providing sex to locals and the tourists coming to TVM. Mariam Rasheeda (MR) was one such person and her ‘handler’ was Fouziya Hassan, another middle aged Maldivian women. MR  by then had acquired  star reputation as one who provide more bang for the buck, and a very co-operative professional in the trade. 

MR, based on the invitation from NN’s connect, started giving the required services to the Russian ‘tourists’, on high periodicity, and she was very talented. She knew she was servicing some real VVIPs of the State, under the knowledge of Police & top officials. 

It is only genuine to surmise that the then Kerala Chief Minister, K Karunakaran and some key Police officials had known the story, at least vaguely, and the reason for the Russians staying in Trivandrum. 

All was going well but an incident brought the plot into the open. MR went to the office of the Special branch Police to get her Visa extended. As she had established good traction with the powers in police by then, (it wasn’t the first time that she was extending her Visa) she behaved little arrogantly with Mr. Vijayan, the police officer there. Vijayan could not appreciate her arrogance and he not only didn’t give her the extension but went on to check her antecedents and things started falling into the open, in bits and pieces. 

The powers be of the deep State, who knew the actual truth, kept quiet and acted as if they knew nothing. Most important aspect was that under no circumstances the country wanted the truth to come out, because it would have created such furore across the globe, and against an existing limited global sanction, the country’s clandestine act with Russian scientist would have put it into extremely bad situation as an offender/defaulter leading to international embarrassment and higher sanctions, such as economic blockade etc.  While the truth was hidden, The Russians ’tourists’ were quickly picked up and packed off to their country. Typical case as how the deep State would act to protect its official secrets.

Unbeknown, the local police went ahead with the interrogation of MR and she spilled whatever she knew. The police registered a prostitution case with connection to senior ISRO scientists and concocted a spy story with NN and his deputy, Sasikumaran trying to sell space technology to the foreigners, luring the clients with sex from international escorts, and by taking help of some ISRO contractors. The story got leaked (?) to the press & media, and without doing any proper fact check, the media connected the itsy-bitsy pieces and came out with an international spy scandal of science, sex & sedition. It wouldn’t be an overstatement that Kerala press & media, in it’s over enthusiasm, was instrumental in complicating the story, particularly with the sex content it (as we see later in Saritha, Swapna cases etc.) See how a small sexual gratification case has become that of sedition and treason, and the role of press & media in inflating ordinary story to a larger context. 

With MR already in, in Novemeber 1994, the police arrested NN, Sasikumaran, Fouzziya Hassan & two businessmen from Bangalore; M/s. Chandrasekharan & Sharma [ISRO head office being in Bangalore, these two were engaged in supply of materials to ISRO and based on request from scientists from ISRO, they did some favours to Fouzziya Hassan in getting admission for her daughters to some premium schools in Bangalore]. They had undergone heavy physical torture at the hands of police during the interrogation (which included the local office of a  central agency, the Intelligence Bureau -IB- too). It is learnt later that the torture was such a third degree one, in order to save the life, they all signed the confession

Using the spy scandal story, some disgruntled senior members within the ruling Congress party (which always suffered from inner party politics) led by AK Antony, Oommen Chandy et al; who were looking for an opportunity to get even with Chief Minister Karunakaran, found a political opportunity to displace the chief minister, whom they hated. By somehow connecting him into the sedition scandal and with the help of media, using such imaginative, titillating stories, they succeeded in getting him to resign. They also tried to implicate IG of Police, Raman Shrivastava who was very close to Karunakaran, in the case.  All the while, notice that the deep state had been indifferent to the innocence of people.

AK Antony, the receiver of the political windfall, came in as CM in place of Karunakaran, appointed Siby Mathews IPS as the Head of Special Investigations team of the ISRO Spy case. Mathews in collaboration with the IB local head, went on the rampage with the vengeance of a man possessed (a curious case of someone more loyal to the nation than the king himself!), to implicate everyone but without solid evidence. Due to public and opposition party pressure, by the end of the year, the state police handed over the case to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) who did not find any evidence in the case and the court set the defendants free. This also is a typical example of an unconnected case acquiring political dimensions, thereby destroying the political career of a strong leader of the state. In politics, you wouldn’t know where the hit comes from!

The Communist party chief Minister, Nayanar who came into power later, reopened the case with another police team. NN approached the high court which rejected his appeal, upon which he moved the Supreme Court. In 1998, the CBI submitted a secret report to Supreme Court along with the final report of the case. The confidential report purportedly listed the investigative flaws committed by the investigating officers, the then Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Siby Mathews, and Superintendents of Police K. K. Joshua and S. Vijayan. In 1998, the SC struck down the HC judgement and ordered a compensation of ₹1 lakh to all the accused

Thereafter, NN went on to file for compensation for the agonies suffered by him and he approached High court & Supreme Court as well as the Human Rights commission. From all places, high amounts of compensation orders were issued in his favour. He is still fighting a criminal case against the erring police officials requesting the Court to take punitive action against them.

Lastly, arrogance had played a key role in the negative development of the case. The first is that of Nambi Narayanan, while he was getting tortured and getting stamped as a traitor, losing his job and all the benefits associated with it & family undergoing extreme difficulties; no one from the ISRO or even his colleagues, came forward to help him. It could be said that no one wanted to be involved in this case of sedition, so they kept off. But it must also be noted that his highhanded arrogance also played a role in people not feeling like helping him. 

And for Mariam Rasheeda, had she kept her cool when she came to renew her visa, by not showing off in front of the Police officer, no one would have heard the case at all. This again is another example of arrogance bringing the downfall

***

A HISTORIC CONFLUENCE OF 2 SEMICONDUCTOR TECH COMPANIES; NVIDIA & ARM

In the early 80’s of the last century, computing came out of the hands of geeks and nerds and got democratised. IBM spearheaded the initiative of PCs with two unruly kids, Microsoft and Intel, with the OS and CPU coming from them. Many clones and compatibles came into being and Personal Computers never looked back.

Moors law [the number of transistors in an Integrated Circuit (IC) doubles every two years] guided the raw computing power of Intel CPU. To match with it, Microsoft went into GUI, with landmark avatar of its OS, the ‘Windows’.

IT matured into ICT (Information and communication Technology) and computers & phones merged, and in its evolution, smartphones of today combined the power of a mainframe computers of 2 decades back and the satellite phone.

Though Intel & Microsoft, the computer-less computer companies thrived, on the smartphone space both couldn’t make an impact. The Android and IOS became the de-facto OS standards and many CPU makers came into existence for smartphones. However one semiconductor technology company that chose its own path as the CPU of smartphones, M/s. ARM Holding which today has more than 250 mobile tech companies including Apple, using its CPU.

ARM started as a UK based company by the name, Acorn in the 1980s. Unlike Intel, this semiconductor design company leveraged on the principles of Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC). Compared to the powerful Intel CPUs, Acorn processors are less powerful but are very fast with an added advantage of having very less power consumption. After Steve Job’s second coming to Apple, the Apple Company combined with Acorn to derive into a new company, Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) Inc., with Apple owning 43% in it.

ARM processors gave a shot in the arm for Apple. Initially its Newton message pad, and later IPod, IPad and then IPhone used ARM processors as their CPU. There are wonderful stories of how ARM had helped Apple to grow. At first it was in 1999, when Apple sold 15% of ARM stock to get $1.1 Billion at a time it was doing badly, which helped Apple reinvigorate. Secondly Apple decided to do way with Intel processors for its devices in favour of ARM processors, thereby cutting down cost drastically and with ARM CPU, Apple went on to be a technology & innovation leader, skyrocketing its market capital into the Trillion dollar bracket.

By 2012 ARM was bought over by Softbank, the PE Company of Masayoshi Son, thus becoming a Japanese company. ARM’s business model is not into chip manufacturing bur designing and selling licenses to others to make and use it. It’s Revenues for the year 2020 was $1.5 billion with Profits hovering above $500 million, having assets worth $3.2 Billion. Though more than 20 billion ARM CPUs had been made so far, the company’s revenue looks small because it is not into manufacturing but in licensing of technologies.

On 13^th September 2020, it was announced that NVidia Corp. will buy ARM holding from Softbank for $40 Billion. NVidia is a globally successful Graphic Processor Unit manufacturer with a revenue of $11 Billion and a profit of close to $3 Billion.

The coming together of two semiconductor companies will go a long way into the thriving technology market, assisted by 5G and with IOT making a huge impact. 

THE STATE OF INDIAN ECONOMY

GDP contracted by 24% in AMJ 2020 quarter from last year

Private consumption spending which accounts for 60% of GDP, fell by 26%

Exports that was 20% to the GDP, fell by 20%

Investment  activity that accounted 32% of GDP, shrunk by of 47%

Construction sector suffered by 50% & Mfg. by 39%

Yearly budgeted fiscal deficit target reached 4 months with 8 more months to go

Only positive, agriculture grew 3.4% 

Covid infection is still spiking, no sign of reversal, situation still volatile

The downturn had extended into JAS 2020 quarter now

These input are from the formal economy. Informal sector activities are severely impacted across India, situation is even worse. 

MSME, a veritable force of Indian economy, is in shambles, many are still closed or functioning @ fractional capacity. 

Wage income came down sharper than GDP due to unemployment and falling wages. 

The Staes are suffering the most as the Centre is denying them GST compensation, faulty GST policy implementation?

States had spent all its money for pandemic fighting, left with no cash to spend, while undergoing fiscal policy restrictions on their revenue raising powers

How will the government and its leaders help the country come out of the maladies? 

राम जाने, pray, 🙏!

CHANGING NUANCES OF GLOBAL POLITY

If the aberration happening in many nations is an indication, it gives us a cynical outlook. Some examples: 

1. President of USA, mighty nation, requests his counterparts in Ukraine & China to testify against his political rival, to win the election 

2. Alexei Navalny, opposition leader of Russia, governed long by Putin; is poisoned and put into coma, this being the signature annihilation tactic of Russian leadership for long, need we say by whom?

3. North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un have his elder brother killed at a Malay airport with VX toxin, ensuring that no one comes to claim his throne 

4. Xi Jinping, the China’s absolute leader amends the nation’s constitution to ensure his continuance as Its leader for life

5. Muhammad  Buhari, former army head of Nigeria taking over the country in a coupe & then ensures a second term by rigging elections

6. Saudi Prince & son of its King, MBS ensures his continuity by neutralising rest of the claimants thru imprisonment

7. Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban assumes dictatorial powers by amending its laws

8. Changing worrisome polity in India

There are similar stories in many other nations where democracy is a casualty, of course! 

Is there any hope in the planet for peace, humanity and harmony?

THE CAPTAIN COOL RETIRES, LONG LIVE THE CAPTAIN!

MS Dhoni is one of the most well known cricketers and cricket being the religion in India, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that he is treated as a super God! Therefore when he announces his retirement from international cricket, it has to be the top news though heartbreaking to his fans. On 15th August, he did that very casually on Instagram, limiting his role to the club cricket level, of course being with the Chennai Super Kings. 

Way back in 2014, he had retired from Test cricket and now he is off from ODIs and T20s too. He is close to 40 years of age, and is considered as the most successful captains of Indian cricket, having led Team India to victories in the ICC WT20 (2007), ICCWorld Cup (2011), and ICC Champions trophy (2013), in addition to taking India as the No.1 in Test Cricket, in 2009. 

There are plenty of statistics and records on his name and everyone knows that. But it has to be admitted that he is one of the best finishers of the game and the act of finishing, he had performed with high percentage of success for his team and the country. Tense situations like 2 overs and 40 runs to win was never impossible for him. 

So long as cricket exists, his name will be stamped on it with a shot that is patented to him, the *”Helicopter Shot”*, and there are very few cricketers who are privileged to have  a shot on their name! 

Let us look at his attitude and behaviour. The first is the calm composure that he maintains, even at the most trying times in the field. A stadium with a hundred thousand people and 21 players other than MS Dhoni would have their heart in their mouth but here is the captain cool, either behind the wicket or facing the seamer at the crease, as if everything is normal. It is surprising how he does that, and that is the secret of his success. 

The equanimity with which he faces both success and failure, neither chest thumping nor going into depression, that is Dhoni the captain. Also, he always kept a clear distance from the media, where too much of indulgence would go for adulation or crucification, his connect with them was on a need basis. Once I remember Watching the ‘nation wants to know’ Arnab Goswami going after Dhoni’s blood in his ‘Newshour’ program but there was complete silence (I would say, ignoring) from his side, with no response, not even a Tweet! For a celebrity cricketer who is always in the limelight, whose nations will die for the game, Dhoni had acquitted himself with aplomb, something that we do not see in his successor. 

As much he had given to the game, the game also gave back to him, for, he is one of the richest sports persons in the country. For someone who started the career as a Ticket Examiner in Railways, MS Dhoni had come off age into the top bracket of sports across the globe! 

Surely, he will not fade away or merge into the back drop. Like ‘dada’ Ganguly, Dravid, Srinath & Ravi Shastry, he would be around the game as an administrator or coach/manager or commentator. The game of cricket needs people like MS. I am sure he would plan his second innings accordingly. 

Based on a video, which was a gist of a series of interviews MS Dhoni had given in the past, I had collated the learnings from the same for all of us to understand his mindset, something which is eminently emulatable not only in sports but in life too. Her it goes: 

1. Keep things simple 

2. Devote your time & attention to your cause/purpose

3. Be honest, have ethics and principles in life

4. It is important to find out what works for you and go with that 

5. Understanding your limitations will give you the confidence to perform better 

6. Thinking of results will not give you results 

7. Only process will deliver the results

8. Focus on the controllables for better results

 

9. Always improve your execution 

10. Take care of small things in life 

11. Fight life with a smile

12. Going through tough periods in life makes you a better human being.

Here is wishing the captain cool, MS Dhoni the best in his future endeavours. Thank you captain for the entertainment!

WAYS TO ANNIHILATE MANKIND

When I read that in the Galwan valley of Ladakh, Chinese army used very primitive weapons to physically assault & kill the Indian soldiers, I was both shocked indeed surprised. How could anyone be using such archaic methods in the modern warfare? May be they were trying to show it as skirmishes, not war. 

WATER WAR: As time progress, the fighting Nations, particularly the neighbouring ones, will not be engaging in artillery and infantry combats. They would be trying to block the water flow into the other nation. As all of us realise the depleting water and its sources and the necessity of water to sustain life, we will realise how the source nation could drain and choke the opposite  nation without letting a drop to flow out. E.g. China-India, China-Vietnam, India-Pak, Turkey-Syria etc.

TECH. WAR: More than the water wars, what will win wars for the nations would be technology, mainly that in aviation, underwater and unmanned weaponry. And of course, it augments the atomic & space technology too. Nations may longer need the huge manpower to fight wars but technology would undertake the destroy all. So it would be wars of nations using technology to play  chess and checkmating of other nations. 

CYBER WAR: The nations could economically destroy the enemy country , by methods of intrusion and hacking into computer network @ financial centres, laboratories, research centres, defence estt. etc. Such endeavours could completely paralyse the other nation, for e.g. electricity supply brought to a stand standstill, traffic going haywire, critical equipments stopping the functions, banks going bonkers etc. 

BIOLOGICAL WAR: Finally, there is biology warfare of spreading microbes, virus and dreaded pathogens into the enemy nations, killing its people of non curable diseases, contaminating its water and food  sources with it and all. One challenge is that it could bite back! The stories behind the recent global pandemic are very shocking and unbelievable. 

With all of the above combined, the world is a dead place! 

INDIAN FOOT SOLDIERS

* Who built Taj Mahal? Shah Jahan

* Who built Mumbai? Parsees

* Who achieved green revolution? Dr Swaminathan

* Who built Golden Quadrilateral? Vajpayee

But what about the thousands of poor wretched workers (many perished in work)who really performed the act of the construction or the cultivation? Who knows them? 

A majority of them were migrants, living in inhuman conditions, so that they could earn the 2 rupaye (metaphorical) that would keep many souls at home located in the interior unreachable villages of india, from dying of poverty!

No one is bothered about them. How could that be? The Congress & the BJP are fundamentally feudal parties, run by the kings and later by Zamindars (and the Savarna Parivar). Will they ever worry about the wretched souls? 

What about the Socialists and the Communists? These parties grew autocratic leaders/rulers within, who took care of themselves, leaving the cadre behind, into abject poverty. 

What independence and achievements are we talking about? We could call us BHARAT one only when it is ensured that every human being in the country has no hunger, has her dignity intact and her & family’s life is secured.

How long will it take?

THE FOUR WOMEN IN MY LIFE!

Of many things that God gave the humans, two are very precious, one is woman and the other is colour! You combine them and that makes colourful women. And, sans the colourful women, the  planet would have been a boring place! Thank you God! 

There are four women in my life and don’t tell me, that is too much! They are my mother, wife, daughter and granddaughter respectively. See, I am a blessed man! 

In those days without phone, radio, TV, computer, internet and mobile phones, my teacher mother was my doctor, my counselor, my mentor, my google and my anchor. I had never stopped asking questions and I remember her telling me that I did start speaking from my 11th month onwards - and she was never tired of answering  and even now, I continue the habit, making my children crib, saying, “dad you ask too many questions”! My mother was a formidable woman, never accepting no for an answer, always progressive in mind and hardworking; living only for  her own children, even at the cost of her health and welfare. Without her, I would have been a nobody, for sure. 

I almost hit thirty years for the second woman to come to my life. She is strong in mind but patient, high on values, generally shy but demanding equal footing, I learnt to respect individuals from her and she has been the world’s best mother to my children, she more than made up my absence due to business and travels. Result, we have two brilliant, well behaved progeny, one an award winning teacher and the other doing exemplary science research. Also, in the the tough times of my business, my wife was the solid rock behind me and without her, I would have withered. 

Like any father, my daughter is the apple of my eye. I never wanted to see her cry (though she had, on several occasions, many times, genuinely). Chirpy, talkative but wanting her own space, she taught me never to compare children and make judgements. When she is on her elements, even today she brings down the home with laughter. She did imbibe my love for letters and I am waiting her to blossom into an exceptional writer. 

And there comes the granddaughter, only four years old, calls me “appu”, but she needs two people to manage her. Bundle of energy, gyrating to music at times or wanting to do her own selfies, never do you see her at rest. I consider her as the true manifestation of Gen-I behaviour and I am sure, future will move fast through their multitasking hands! 

I must admit again, what a dreadful way man would have lived, but for the lovely ladies around......

THE RELEVANCE OF ONLINE DIGITAL LEARNING

Online digital learning is all about the teacher engaging students without a classroom where he would precisely understand the needs and preferred learning methods of the student and deliver the content in the personalised manner. 

All learners do not come with the same type of intelligence. In a world of multiple intelligences such as visual, verbal, logical, kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intra personal, natural & existential (ref: “Frames of mind - The Theory of Multiple intelligences by Prof. Howard Gardner), one size shirt does not fit for the students learning mode. 

And, knowledge and content is is transmitted through 6 media (text, graphics, image, audio, video and animation, called multimedia now). Depending upon the dominant  intelligence of the student, his preference of media in assimilating, comprehending and retaining the information vary. 

Finally, the five sense organs come into play for receiving the content and depending upon the learning preferences, various sense organs play out differently in doing so.

So digitalised learning allows the interplay between multiple intelligences, multimedia and the multi sense organs. Having tremendous advantages over pedagogical learning, digital learning will come into the fore, for millennials, Gen.Z and Gen.I

SOME HUMANITARIAN THOUGHTS

As per the discoveries made by archeologists, lithologists, anthropologists, geneticists, scientists and historians, and by analysing the findings, it had come to establish that about seven thousand  years back, some Homo Sapiens (the first of whom having got out of Africa approx. seventy millennium ago), have been moving on as hunter-gatherers across the planet and some, as pastoralists, having got settled, domesticating animals and going into agriculture. Eventually the Sapiens settled down and group dynamics started coming into play as sects, societies and later religion, caste and countries. 

While all these were happening, from the beginning, by evolution, earth’s tectonic plates were moving slowly but continuously, and the land mass was also moving apart and re forming into continents. The weather was playing upon it and making its impacts on the inhabitants accordingly, depending upon which side of the globe the land had come into being. 

As per the findings and studies, on the subcontinent land mass now called India, from 3500 till 1500 BCE, the Harappan civilisation (also called Indus Valley) flourished and it was joined by huge mass of hunter gathers moving across from east Europe and Central Asia (which wasn’t called so then but identified as ‘Steppe’) and scientists confirm the mix as the present Indian (also later joined by austrolasians but in lesser proportions). The Vedas, Upanishad, the Sutras and the Gita developed thereafter, of course, based on the accumulated knowledge of these three distinct  groups from the past many millennia. Some of the finest humanitarian thoughts were established by this joint culture as, “vasudaiva kutumbakam” (world is a family), “Loka samasta sukhino bhavantu” (may all being be happy and free),  “aano bhadra krtavo yanthu vishwataha” (let noble thoughts come from all directions) and many similar empathetical human considerations of global relevance. Such was the approach of the civilisation that existed here which continued being so to the current era (CE), accepting and tolerating the differences that came on its way.

The erstwhile subcontinent India, originally addressed in its folklore as “Bharatvarsh” is today 8 different nations, most of which coming into being only in the last hundred years. Each of these countries now go by its own hard-core parochial, nationalistic feelings, completely forgetting the earlier emotions of acceptance and tolerance which made its people in the first place. And they do not blink an eye to annihilate each other (and that include it’s own citizens) at the slightest provocation, in the name of very narrow minded philosophies and ‘isms’ that had developed lately and merciless acts are heaved upon the people of Kandahar, Baluchistan, Kashmir, Assam, Bastar, Madhes, Chittagong, Rakhine, Jaffna; to name a few; in the form of intra and inter country conflicts. 

So, today, we humans are getting devoid of any global humanitarian considerations in us. We are discriminating each other based on religion, caste, place of birth, language, colour of skin etc. Our scriptures of the yore that propagated ‘vasudaiva kutumbakam’ that was followed throughout the subcontinent once, is totally forgotten or new meanings are taken out of of them to behave the way as we do now. And, we are forced to spend disproportionate amounts to protect such uninhabitable terrains as Siachen, Ladakh, Doklam & Tawang as these areas have developed into strategic locations for the safely of the country. 

A less than hundred year old thought on nationalism influencing all these nations, is splitting us, killing us and disintegrating the huge legacy of global village concept that we held once. All the commonalities that we have had, that kept us together, is being given up for discriminating each other. If history is any proof, going by the trend, all these emotions could go down to split the cultures that hold each of our geographies together as one entity. 

I dread imagining such a state of affair! 

THE STORY OF 2 HASHTAGS

For many of the oppressed and the underprivileged, social media has been a great boon. Otherwise quelled as soon as starts, by the powers that be, many important movements and protests never used to  take off in the physical world. Then came the online and virtual world, the power of of the social media and platforms such as YouTube, FB, Instagram, Twitter etc. that profoundly assisted many protests, particularly those on gender and racial violence. These had now spread across the world, touching even people belonging to different cultures. Two such pertinent movements are: 

#MeToo

The #MeToo is a movement against sexual harassment and abuse where women come out in the open with their allegations of the sex crimes committed by powerful and prominent men. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in 2006 on the social media platform, Myspace, by the sexual harassment survivor and activist Tarana Burke and later in 2015 by Italian model Ambra Gutierrez alleging sexual violations by the Hollywood Moghul, Weinstein. 

The way it caught on and the courage displayed by those women who otherwise had kept quiet for so many years due to the impossibility of fighting powerful men, was phenomenal. Every such incident that happened in the past and that is happening now, is brought to open. The movement had gone universal and so many powerful deities had fallen wayside with it. It is still going on. 

#BlackLifeMatters

It all started on 25th May 2020 when the brute force displayed a white cop on George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA for about Eight minutes, 46 seconds, killing him by asphyxiating him, after having him handcuffed for an alleged crime of vending a counterfeit 20 dollar bill (which later turned out to be genuine currency)  

Floyd’s death just triggered the pent-up fury of the black and coloured across USA and all over the world, on the intense racist attitude of the whites against them, that has going on for ages. Even the post event  communication from white American leaders, including its President, needed a lot to be desired. For the so called ‘20 dollar’ crime, the whole of US went up in riots and flames, and it is yet to subside. Surely #BlackLifeMatters, as a movement  against a racial oppression will continue and George Floyd hasn’t lost his life for nothing. 

Look at the way technology and devices are impacting our lives in ways we had never thought!