Globe-al Crisis
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Sanity Break #1
This is one of photographer Joachim Schmeisser’s stunning portraits of Africa’s most endangered wildlife. He says the collection is “a homage and warning at the same time—a visual message with the aim of sharpening our clouded view of the one, infinitely complex and vulnerable nature and to recognize which treasures we are about to irretrievably lose.” See some of the others over at (laptop viewing is a must).
Headlines that matter
ISRAEL-PALESTINE APPROACH BRINK OF WAR * The Middle East is turning into a war zone as Israel and Palestine exchange air strikes—and Arab-Jew riots spread within Israel. * The Palestinian militant group Hamas has fired more than into Israel—including 350 that fell short and into Gaza. Most of these were repelled by a security system called Iron Dome. * Israel meanwhile has successfully struck 500 targets within Gaza—reducing great parts of the city to rubble. Point to remember: Gaza is twice the size of Washington DC. And it has few bomb shelters and no air defense system. * The so far: 67 in Gaza and seven in Israel. Palestinian authorities say that Israelis indiscriminately targeted civilians, and that 43% of the victims of strikes in Gaza were children and women. Israel claims the strikes were aimed at the Hamas leadership. * The United Nations has warned that the situation could mushroom into a “full-scale war.” * Meanwhile, inside Israel, Israeli Arabs and Jews have been involved in bloody riots—especially in the —forcing the government to declare a state of emergency. * offers a solid overview. has details of the airstrikes. has more on what’s happening in Lod. The has an excellent explainer on the Al-Aqsa mosque—which was the initial trigger for this round of violence. explains the Iron Dome defense system. has a collection of photos. reports on the Kerala woman who was killed in Israel due to a rocket strike. THE GREAT PANDEMIC: A LONGISH UPDATE First, the numbers: We recorded new cases and 4,126 deaths. A Cambridge University tracker says that we may have already reached our peak—but again, this is based on our official numbers which may not be accurate. And researchers offer : > “But there is substantial variation among states and union territories in their trajectories, with cases continuing to increase > over the next two weeks in areas such as Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura." Also testing positive: Supreme Court Justice . Not being counted: tens of thousands of Indians who are likely infected. has an excellent deep dive into the testing crisis—as staff and resources are overwhelmed by the second wave. About that lockdown: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Balram Bhargava has suggested continuing the lockdown for in 718 districts that have a positivity rate above 10%. Taking the lockdown seriously: The newly elected Assam government which it will charge anyone hosting large events with attempted murder. About those bodies: More bodies have washed up in along the banks of the Ganga. The officials will not release any numbers, but The Telegraph puts it . Also: in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, an unknown number of bodies were found buried in the sand. Authorities in Bihar have now taken to to catch the bodies (See our for background on this tragedy) Covid politics: 12 opposition leaders—including Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray et al—have written a to the Prime Minister offering him advice on how to handle the “apocalyptic human tragedy.” Also they don’t seem to expect a reply: “Though it has not been the practice of your office or government, we would appreciate a response to our suggestions in the interests of India and our people.” About those vaccines: * Reason to worry: Data shows that the worst Covid hotspots have experienced the in their inoculation rates: “The top 20 cities with the most active cases have given 42% fewer shots a day in May than they did in April amid a crippling shortage of vaccine doses.” * People between the ages of 18 to 44 Covaxin shots in Delhi starting tomorrow. The reason: The government doesn’t have enough supplies—and will reserve its four-day stock for frontline workers and the 45-plus. * vaccinations for younger residents: Maharashtra and Karnataka. * According to the AAP government, Bharat Biotech has to supply more vaccines citing union “government directives.” * But there’s some good news if you can’t get that second jab of Covishield. Experts say it is perfectly fine to wait for . * Related read: has a good piece on Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla’s shifting rationales for the Covishield shortage. Also has a guide on when to take the shot if you have been infected. * Here’s a potential role model for Indian companies: A Japanese publishing company took out a double full-page : “In an old-timey prewar font, it reads, ‘No vaccine. No medicine. Are you asking us to fight with bamboo spears? At this rate, we'll all be killed by politics.’” Meanwhile at the hospitals: tracked news and social media reports of deaths due to oxygen shortages at hospitals, and arrived at a shocking total: 223—and that doesn’t include another 70 where the families claim that patients died due to lack of oxygen. In other bad news, here’s a of a hospital in Etawah—where the doctors are missing and the floors are covered with human shit because the bathrooms are locked. On a far happier note: The nurses in Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai to the Hindi version of ‘We Shall Overcome’—'Hum Honge Kaamyaab'—to mark International Nurses Day. About those migrant workers: A shows that banning travel of migrant workers during lockdowns only works if the move is carefully timed. Shorter travel bans can result in fewer infections spreading to their home districts, while longer bans offer time for the cities to bring down their infections. But the worst are those which fall in the middle: > “For intermediate durations, we risk a situation where we force people to stay in a region of rapidly increasing Covid-19 > (cases), and then we allow them to leave at a time when many of them are likely to be infected. This is what creates the finding > of intermediate bans being potentially counterproductive.” Speaking of celebrity aid: Poor Jack Dorsey just can’t get it right. The Twitter CEO announced he will donate $15 million in Covid relief to India—part of which will go to Sewa International. Turns out that the organisation is the US arm of Sewa Bharti, a welfare organisation affiliated with the RSS. () Doing much better: OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal who announced that the company will be moving to a 4-day work week in acknowledgement of the physical and mental stress of the pandemic. Employees will now get a day off on Wednesday, i.e. hump day. Also: no questions asked leave on demand. () Covidiot alert! Three students at the University of Massachusetts were suspended for partying without a mask. The bigger idiots: Their parents who are the university. A very good Covid resource: In the midst of a hellish pandemic, it is more important than ever for citizens to know their legal rights. Covid Rights India is an important resource aimed at spreading awareness of these rights. Check out for very useful information—sorted by individual states—and, more importantly, you can reach out to experts if you need legal advice. You can also do your bit to help their effort by: * Providing legal advice to families and victims of COVID-19 who may reach out through this website * Volunteering to add orders to this website * Offering ideas or suggestions for the website, and how to disseminate it CENTRAL VISTA IS NOW A STATE SECRET The government has put up signs banning people from taking photos or videos of the project—or rather the devastation caused by construction, which is (literally) plowing ahead in the midst of the second wave. A possible trigger for this new-found paranoia: This PTI ‘crime scene’ photo that caused a stir on social media: also reports on the appalling living conditions of workers—who are crammed into tiny tents on the site with zero social distancing. ‘NFT’ IS NOW AN NFT File this one under seriously surreal! Merriam-Webster Dictionary is auctioning its official definition of a Non Fungible Token as a Non Fungible Token. The reads: > “[A] unique digital identifier that cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided, that is recorded in a blockchain, and that is > used to certify authenticity and ownership (as of a specific digital asset and specific rights relating to it).” So how do you ‘own’ the definition of a word? bravely (but unsuccessfully) does its best to explain this conundrum: > “The NFT bears a relationship to the word in the sense that you gave money to Merriam-Webster because they’re telling you that > this digital token has to do with the definition of the word. You will not receive a gold chain emblazoned with ‘NFT,’ you don’t > own the word or the definition, you may not license the definition, nor the NFT, and while you may make derivative art inspired > by the NFT, you may not use it for commercial purposes. In other words, you will receive a figment of imagination, which is > priceless, and the resale value, which is TBD.” FYI: the highest bid so far is $17.65—which is the most hopeful sign that sanity may yet prevail. In even weirder news: According to a new book—written by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Carol Leonnig—two members of Donald Trump’s family were in “inappropriate relationships” with the Secret Service agents guarding the family. Vanessa—then married to Donald Jr—“started dating one of the agents who had been assigned to her family.” And daughter Tiffany “began spending an unusual amount of time alone with a Secret Service agent on her detail.” Apparently, the Secret Service “became concerned at how close Tiffany appeared to be getting to the tall, dark and handsome agent.” When life imitates really bad fiction… () Also weird but not icky: The Pacific football fish—popularised by ‘Finding Nemo’—which usually hangs out at 3,000 feet underwater. So it was quite astonishing when it turned up on a beach in California. FYI, This is the : "Their teeth, like pointed shards of glass, are transparent and their large mouth is capable of sucking up and swallowing prey the size of their own body.” Also: the looked like this: Also found but rescued: A rare calico-colored lobster shipped to a Red Lobster restaurant was saved from becoming someone’s dinner. Now nicknamed Freckles, he has been sent to live happily ever after at a museum. VLADIMIR PUTIN, HOCKEY STAR! The Russian president in an ice hockey game as part of an annual festival—and scored ! Sure he did coz who’s brave enough to tackle the Vlad?
Sanity Break #2
Here is a very different variation on the ‘animal portrait’ theme: extreme close-up ‘head shots’ of ants taken by Eduard Florin Niga. They are a reminder of how even the seemingly mundane can become suddenly exotic and extraordinary… if we only look closely. has more of these eye-popping images. You can also check out Niga’s .
Reading Habit
READING HABIT BOOK EDITOR’S NOTE Jahnavi Barua is the author of ‘’, ‘’ and ‘’—which was longlisted for the and the . Jahnavi was raised between Assam, Delhi and Manchester. She studied medicine but never grew up to become a doctor. We’re delighted that she agreed to take our Book Addict’s Quiz. What is your most powerful and/or cherished childhood memory of a book? One book, or rather, set of books, I will always remember from childhood is Enid Blyton’s ‘’ from ‘’ series. With this set, Blyton met every criterion that I looked for and relished in a book. The enchanted forest she created was as emphatic an escape from reality as any work of fiction could be. Cross a line and in a through-the looking-glass sort of experience you were at once in a magical land peopled by fairies and pixies and where, atop a magic faraway tree, exotic lands of delicious descriptions perched, waiting for you to visit. Yet, embedded in these stories was also a sharp sense of knowing that all good things did not last forever, and that you had to leave these kaleidoscopic worlds when your time was up, lest you remained stranded there forever. I think I have carried this bittersweet realization within me ever since. <A tree portal that takes you far, far away? We could all use one right now!!> What line of literature or poetry can you quote ad nauseam? Brownie points if you can tell us when and where you quoted it most recently. I have to confess here that I am not a quoter. I have never quoted any line of prose or poetry; a deep, dark secret that I am, with trepidation, revealing today! <Ah! ‘Cause we usually do like Dorothy L. Sayers: “I always have a quotation for everything—it saves original thinking.”> An author you adored as a child but haven’t thought about in years? —who does not love ‘’? However, in recent years I have rarely turned back to read any of these much-loved books. <Wait, you actually read the books? We thought everyone just watched the movies.> Which book would you gift to your new best friend, and which to your worst enemy? As for what I would gift a new best friend, I don’t have to think hard: any one of ’s excellent collections of short stories. To an enemy, ‘’! I am cheating a little here but this seminal text of anatomy was a heavy burden in my student days—literally heavy, I almost could not lift it, let alone memorize it. <Why? What’s not to like about convoluted love affairs, gory close-ups of bloody organs, angst-driven (but very hot) doctors… Oh, wait, you mean that other ‘Grey’s Anatomy’! Yup, we’ll take a hard pass on that one too.> I would love to see a movie/series adaptation of ___________ starring ____ as _____ . Would it be terrible if I said I would love to see ‘’ with as Loya? Please do excuse my bad form in wanting to see my own novel up there on the screen, but so many readers have written to say they would love to see ‘Undertow’ made into a film that I am quite curious to see how it would turn out. <Self-promotion is a cardinal virtue in publishing. Never apologise.> A book review that was better than the book? I haven’t yet come across a book review that has been better than a book. <In which case, you need to check out.> Which book do you pretend to have read? Much of ! What is the first “forbidden” book you read in secret? The first “forbidden” or near forbidden book would be ‘’, by. <It’s always either Lawrence or Nick Carter. Hmm, we wonder if there is a ‘smut personality’ quiz in there somewhere.> What’s one of the funniest books you’ve ever read? Something apart from Wodehouse, Adams, Durrell et al would be even better. I would have to say ‘’ by . Still laugh when I think of it! <There is no escaping the Durrell!> Send us a photo of your tsundoku pile. <Look at all those excellent women writers! 150/100 just for that!> Thank you for playing, Jahnavi! PS: If you haven’t bought one of her wonderfully written books, you are missing out! Baby bunny! Trampolines are the best! Water melons are the best!
