Brown Motion

As Covid ravages I sit at home. Sometimes as the sun shines I go and sit in my backyard with a camera. What I saw through the lens was a variety of wildlife making its way as if nothing had changed.  And to them it had not.  Perhaps an unusual stillness had descended with the goofy H sapiens sapiens not making an appearance as often.  These noisy creatures with their large mechanical smoke belchers had suddenly and magically stopped wandering.  So many a winged life buzzed, or chirped and others circled. The turkey vulture pictured below scanned its food supply chain down below and ... ..eyed the little guy sunning himself ... as he in turn kept a wary eye or two on its newly minted offspring pictured below..

Modern day life has brought many a convenience to us humans.   A toaster to toast a piece of bread by merely pressing a button or a steaming cup of caffeine with the press of another button.   And that is just to start our day. Our entire existence now has become subject to multiple button pressing activity, least of which is the incessant banter between two or more individuals of our species using the manifold tech available to us. Communication therefore has transformed from what used to be a difficult exercise in millennia past and now more so become central to our (perceived) success as a civilization occupying this rock. I would argue how and what we choose to communicate in today’s day and age are immensely important to our future survival.   The POTUS presenting a point of view about a deadly pathogen and its impact to society vs a trained immunologist articulating what we as a society need to do for self-preservation brings it home to many of us. ...

Something light hearted amidst the global angst felt by most unless they live on Antarctica or perchance are as yet an undiscovered tribe on our planet. Many of the regulars to this blog know of my penchant for a show that aired in the last decade of the last millenium on American television eponymously titled 'Seinfeld'. Created by two Jewish comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David it was self titled the 'Show about Nothing'. It spanned a total of about eight years in the 1990s, consisting of nine seasons as the TV networks classify it.  NBC was the original TV network that had the broadcast rights and funded the productions. While the show followed the standard 22 minute actual taped time format it was written by a team of writers including Jerry and Larry and to me has come to represent the best of realistic comedy ever. I have had the fortune of reading and following and viewing many a show or book in my many years in America but none comes close to the ...

The largest economy on earth - loaded statement there - has a fundamental flaw. Look closely.  At American Dollars.  The currency in the world.  Everyone wants some. What do you see on it? Lots of portraits of dead men.  Poor Washington got stuck to a $1 bill.  Some other relatively unknown guys got higher values.  How come? Also some pictures of old greek looking buildings.  Some mumbo jumbo scrawls that cannot be duplicated easily. But most importantly the printed words - IN GOD WE TRUST. What? When a pandemic hits we don't really care what the President does.  Nor the Congress.  Nor the Federal Reserve. You see most people don't even understand the above man made institutions. Most people apparently understand God.  Because the first thing they think is - Oh God! Otherwise these are just meaningless pieces of colored paper.  What on earth are we doing chasing them?  We will find out on Easter. PS:...

This century only 20 years old has already pushed the boundaries of never before seen statistics and many firsts. Some nutjobs with skewed ideology flew commercial planes into large buildings killing 3,500 in the richest economy on earth. India did a global pilot with 1.3 Billion people when they decided to remove their most popular paper currency in an exercise called demonetization. Net result - some black market types got hammered.  Poor people (which is half of India's population) got hammered.  Today net result is that the grey economy continues with new Rupee notes.  Duh! World stock markets reached all time highs.  Man made indices to represent the fastest growth companies rang up huge profits as cost of capital plummeted.  World banks dropped interest rates to levels not seen ever.  Some went to Zero and some Negative.  It costs money to put it in a bank not the other way. More people are alive than ever before approaching 8 billion....

This phrase has often made headlines in these extraordinary times. Viewing our planet and its occupants as one entity in the universe.  Devoid of class and socio economic barriers, and without the lens of our otherwise jaded views on gun control, pro life or not, same sex or otherwise, cultural biases et al. From the Dalai Lama to the otherwise rebellious folk; from milk lovers to the lactose intolerant; Republican to Democrat, we all realized that it is critical to view this as more than a passing issue. A small organism of which we seem to know little has threatened the way of life.  No not way of life. But LIFE. It is crunch time.  The species slowly but surely awoke.  Outliers exist but largely we get it. It has also put a sensitive and debate topic to the forefront of whether socialist or capitalist models work best in case of such an unprecedented event. Time will tell.  I have no idea.  There are merits to each model and some Scandinavia...

King of Monaco has the virus. Honestly, I am not sure how many people on the planet would know what Monaco is? Including Americans. In India Monaco is the equivalent of a Ritz Cracker.  King of Monaco might sound like some uber cracker and a general reluctance to indulge in a tea time snack. Much like goofy people stopped drinking Corona beer. What next?  Pepperidge farms have to sell the farm?  They make Milanos.  Would people give up on their Milano cookies?  Because Milan is under lockdown? When they announced a run on toilet paper I was left wondering if the rascals in my neighborhood would please TP my house. I have heard that these random attacks in America's suburbs involve a bunch of disgruntled or misdirected youth that decide to wrap the topiary and hedges around someone's house with reels of toilet paper. Dang - that would be handy.  Sort of a trick and treat in one roll. LOL and more ROFL.

In times of high stress it is worthwhile to mull on the moments in one's life that defied any explanation or that were simply amazing because of their very simplicity.  It gives me the ability to stay calm and look at the big picture.  I hope to share some thoughts. We all live complex multi disciplinary lives as parents, siblings, children, cousins and co workers and members of society.  We face multiple challenges and risks and deal with it mostly in real time. Waking up each morning is a risk.  Something we do not necessarily pay much attention to because our so called muscle memory takes over to propel us forward. But when a significant global event occurs as it did this early 2020; we as a species tend to take stock.  Some run for cover, some get guns, some seek worship but a vast, vast majority predominantly learns to evaluate primary risk and does its own planning. That puts lot of people through unnatural stress.  Something they may not be ...

Aliens zooming past might see a sign posted on our rock.  Closed for repairs.  Please come back soon. At this time although unprecedented perhaps the safest bet is to take a global month long holiday. Let the virus die its own death. Sure there will be economic casualties but remember that economy is a man made idea.  Virus is not.  Don't fight what you cannot. Keep working on vaccines and such but remember to hug your loved ones and keep a positive spirit. Planet will be fine but survival of the species depends entirely on how we let common sense prevail and not intellectual arrogance. This is not a novel idea although it might appear like it given the virus itself is called that. So whether Hollywood has a new blockbuster on its hands or not they certainly for now should focus on washing them and taking frequent naps. We can all wake up to a new day to watch the movie later.

COVID 19 may end up being the story of the decade if not the century (if there is a century left to measure). In the days of the next news cycle and talking heads, the media went from Trump elections to Trump bashing to record stock markets to Kobe Bryant crash to the stock market crash. The latest courtesy of a micro pathogen with origins in central China vectoring out to the rest of the world - thanks to globalization.  I posted a breakfast plate some blogs ago showing a five continent menu assembled in minutes on my dining table. Flip side of the coin - I might have a virus on my plate baby.  Jumped through perhaps six degrees of separation it could well have landed in my cereal bowl unbeknownst to me. Net result - mass hysteria in so called first world affluent neighborhoods of America. Epic long lines at grocers and warehouse stores where policing by law enforcement became necessary. Butt wiping took on a whole new level of interest with the measly TP disappear...

Cilantro, Incense, Camphor, Shit, Spices, Sweat, Jasmine, Firewood? All of the above? Nostalgia? A human nose is among many advanced technologies that a computer cannot replicate. Everyone has one.  Not just the nose but a memory saved in their Hippocampus.  That is to say everyone has one of these campuses right inside of their brain and an amazing ability to retrieve the stored data when a certain trigger is pulled. I had to visit Bombay (now Mumbai) on the western coast of India recently.  Described as a maximum city it is a constantly alive microcosm of a multi cultural, multi language, foodie heaven populated like no place on earth. I grew up here and therefore have a distinct impressions of the terrain etched somewhere deep in the grey matter. Landing here and starting to operate is a muscle memory that springs to life like a dormant seed bursting to do its thing in the parched California Death Valley with the onset of first rain. Below are some sna...

As oxymorons go there is no dearth. A contagion sweeping our planet has led to the creation of many new names and phrases and 'Social Distancing' is top of the list. Humans (most) are social by design.  They thrive in community.  They seek something among others of their species to not just reproduce but to mingle, coexist and do amazing things.  That very idea is now (at least temporarily) being discouraged. Advances (caution here) in technology has had an unintended effect of creating new zombie colonies that want no human interaction rather hiding behind a computer to peripherally engage another of the species similarly equipped. This ailment is found in younger generations and some older (converting) adults as an example where they stick  noise cancelling cups on their ears most of their waking day.  Along with gadgets and software that has modified human behavior to the point of tapping on glass to communicate with family sitting at the s...

My life has been a roller coaster from the start of 2020 for a variety of family emergencies that I had to take care of. It involved a trip to India. Add to that a once in a century pandemic and it was the beginning of a novella.  A thriller by some accounts. I arrived in India when the virus had no name.  Later it did.  CDC and or the WHO labeled it COVID 19.  Giving it a name was one way to steer public opinion away from thinking the Chinese were to blame for the malady that had befallen the planet. Above is signage at Mumbai airport on arrival routing people with possible infection to go someplace else.  Not the line that would confuse you if you had a non Indian passport (as I did and all windows said Indian Passport). Since then I quickly realized that there was less we as a species knew about our new nemesis than we know about the Andromeda galaxy.  Clueless with a mirror on a stick. Human arrogance which I discuss substantially o...

As it happened coincidentally my father passed away the day I turned 50.  For someone whose faculty to remember dates and events is not a strong suit, a relative commented that he had made it easy for me to remember the date. Perhaps it would be so. He lived his life on his terms and left the living world relatively pain free. An India trip therefore came about.   I visited whole host of relatives in short order.. some I had not encountered in a few decades.  A life and death tipping point has the ability to bring people together and it did.  It gave me a chance to connect with people outside of mere relatives including folks that reside in my neighborhood where I grew up in Bombay and were the actual first responders helping my now widowed mother cope with grief and shock of a companion of many years leaving. Some had also helped her get him hospitalized when few days before he needed to.  I was able to personally visit with and thank these souls whose...