Our Funarena!

In regard to the nearly 17-month old pandemic horrors in India we usually discuss the economy & the growth rate, loss of lives, jobs & livelihoods, the worst affected sectors, lack of any meaningful financial relief by the government and other issues. The TV channels regularly show how the film stars and other celebrities are doing and how sports activities should be restarted. Only occasionally we discuss how the home-imprisoned students are coping with the crisis; that too we don’t care to know how they are doing, but only hold chat shows with the same education experts or teachers on basically the same points repeated over and over again.  Then, there are the raging debates on holding various types of exams at the relevant points of time. However, in the recent weeks the debates have picked up about holding the 10 th and 12 th class final exams which finally ended with all the states deciding to declare results without holding exams and based on the online tests and overal

The 4 th Serosurvey done by the apex medical body ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) in June-July 2021 taking in over 28,000 samples in 21 states has shown that about 70% of the people of India (including children) have antibodies, that is to say, relative immunity against COVID-19 infections—which is a big jump from the 3 rd survey done in January-February this year that showed only around 21% of people having antibodies. However, the ICMR study does not distinguish antibodies developed through natural viral infections or through vaccination in terms of numbers. Coming after the disastrously uncontrollable COVID-19 second wave which is yet to subside the result is extremely significant: it definitely shows a light of hope in terms of India coming closer to developing herd immunity, because earlier in 2020 experts said that at least 80% of population of any country must develop immunity to achieve herd immunity; and that around 70% of people of India are hopefully not going to

It was cruelly insensitive on the part of the Government of India to declare in Parliament that there had been no COVID-19 deaths during the second wave due to lack of medical oxygen in the country, when not only the thousands of the affected families but also millions other anxious or someway related families just cannot erase the nightmarish images of people dying gasping for breath on hospital beds, in the hospital passages/corridors/lounges, on the outside courtyards or on the streets, in the parked cars, within the four walls of homes; hospitals sending SOS for oxygen, desperate doctors even breaking down; and round-the-clock media reports and most disturbing visuals.   The reason given by the government is even more ludicrously insensitive: that the states did not report the deaths due to the lack of medical oxygen. Well, most of the states, particularly the ones ruled by the same dispensations would hardly advertise their failure or the stark lack of preparedness. The govern

Sometime in February 2021 daily COVID-19 cases started rising in the state of Kerala, and then obviously, cases showed a upward trend in Maharashtra from March onward. But as we have said so many times earlier that during that time nobody was talking about a lurking second wave and the governments of the country called India were obsessed with elections of various types, religious celebrations to propitiate various communities while the larger public indulged themselves no holds barred after what they called nearly a year-long deprivation. And, the murderous second wave ravaged the country: medical infrastructure hopelessly overburdened; governments caught fully unprepared and thousands dying in the hospitals gasping for breath or dying in the streets waiting for some air or dying in the parked cars or at homes hoping to get the medical oxygen desperately; the crematoriums/burial grounds unable even to do justice to the dead bodies; and many disposed bodies of people of rural areas per

Another golden chapter of Hindi cinema has drawn to a close. Dilip Kumar, the legendary hero of the classical era traversing over six glorious decades of providing top-class entertainment to millions of fans the world over, has passed away at a Mumbai hospital today morning. He was admitted in the ICU on 30 th  June due to a prolonged illness, and in fact, for the last more than a month he had been in and out of hospital with constant prayers from his loving wife Saira Banu, one of the most popular heroines of the classical era, family, friends and millions of fans for his recovery. However, finally the doyen of Hindi cinema bowed down to destiny and the will of God, calling it a day at the ripe age of 98, two years short of what could have been the most memorable occasions of Indian film industry.  Dilip Kumar has always been a tremendous fighter, both in his films and in his great variety of roles as well as in personal life fighting serious health issues for several years. In 2

Parks in big congested Indian cities perform one of the noblest humanitarian services of providing comparatively safe and cosy corners to young couples, married or unmarried, to spend some precious private moments. But of course, there are various types of parks: some are smaller with bushy overgrowth all around and patches of thick grass interspersed with narrow gravel paths and stone benches at convenient corners; some other medium-sized but similar parks have additional facilities for children playing including toy gyms; some larger parks have cemented pavements rounding off the greenish ground in between, the pavement is meant obviously for the walkers; and some still larger parks with almost genuine football-cricket grounds in the middle with cement pavement running all along the square, and concrete benches thrown beyond the pavement, toward the borders. The latter variety is a multipurpose park—for morning and evening walkers, football-cricket matches, and of course, for the lov

The largely preventable or at least controllable marauding second COVID-19 wave in India seems to be ebbing with around 39000 new infections in the last 24 hours and around 700 fatalities in the same period. However, the crisis is far from over with the spree of unlocking taking place all around the nation and the most feared third wave lurking somewhere in the corner. Most of the places except for educational institutions and cinema halls have been reopening in most of the states, with only containment zones still put under strict restrictions. The grim milestone of deaths at over 4 hundred thousand has also been reached with at least two hundred thousand extra fatalities suspected. Further, unlocking cannot be avoided indefinitely due the issue of livelihoods, and in light of the fact that the national positivity rate is now around 2.5% unlocking is technically justified. However, the state governments of India must display extreme caution and aggressive testing, tracing and containm