Janus, the Greek God behind the name of January, has 2 heads. One head looking backward, and another towards the future. Probably, that was the reason for adapting January as the 1st month of the Julian Calendar Year. Many countries like India and China still maintain their own Lunar Calendars but January is the first month officially nevertheless. And this January, in particular, brings the start of a new Decade. I like to think that the new decade starts now. 2020 was a Trial or the Zeroth Year for calculations and shaking everyone by the throat just to wake them up.
Continue reading “Start of the decade is here”Tag Archives: 2020
Year 2020 End Blog Post
120 odd blog posts this year! Out of these, 100 or more have been published daily for the last 100 or so days. Total Words 41,227+. Average words per post 352. That’s a big achievement so a self-pat-on-the-back is a given. So, I have nothing to sum up as consolidated thoughts today. 2020 has been a year that taught us a lot of things. I will share what I think were the 3 most important lessons we should have learned.
You
Your and your family’s health is above everything else. Money is required to keep the health intact as well. But if you are not healthy to earn money, then all the best. In case you fail to keep yourself healthy for any reason, the only thing which can save you is Insurance. If you don’t have yourself insured, then it is like bungee jumping with a rope made of noodles. Take care of yourself. You matter.
This and That
So many things are there that we take for granted. Internet and People top that list so thank you Tim Berners Lee and Evolution. But there are things which, if taken away, everything would crumble. To each, his own, but savoring small things should be our priority always. This year showed us if our basic things are taken away from us, we might implode.
The Off Switch
Beginning with the start of this year, till at least October end, I worked more than I have ever worked in my life. I took up more responsibilities than I have ever had. Then I took on some more challenges. I experienced a few things that were life-altering. What did I achieve out of that? Nothing as of now. Probably, the results would show in the next few years. But one big lesson learned is the missing Off Switch. I spent all my time this year in front of a screen and kept my eyes closed only when I was sleeping. This is unsustainable and impractical. It fast forwards you to old age. An Off Switch needs to be found and that’s going to be my focus in 2021. One cannot get back the lost moments (and people). So, spending time rightly is to be cherished.
Wishing the millions and millions of the readers of this blog the best for the upcoming year. For rest of the world, read more people! Let’s hope 2021 acts as the start of a wonderful decade for humanity. Do the due.
Reading in 2020
Goodreads.com runs the yearly Reading Challenge year after year. One has to commit to reading a certain number of books in the year to participate. There is no award but it is just a personal goal. Reading more is a goal for me as I very strongly believe that people whom I consider smart, are also well-read. Mind you, that doesn’t work oppositely (if this is a word). Every year, I have tried to increase the number of books I read than the previous year. And like how always it happens, life happens and your promise runs out of gas. So, as is shown below, I have never been able to reach even 12 books in any year since I started tracking this. Shameful indeed! But over time, I have read more Non-Fiction than Fiction. Real-life is thrilling enough nowadays. Also, a good Non-Fiction would be as captivating as any fictional book if you have an interest in the topic. In any case, storytelling would rule in any book there is.
I might not have read the most number of books. But, I have read the most this year. Seriously a lot. Not books per se, but medical articles. Just going by the variety of topics read, it ranged from Haematology, Diabetes, Sarcoma, Immunotherapy, Dendritic Cells Therapy, Metastasis, Obesity, Pneumonia, and of course, Covid-19. And many more horrible but widely prevalent things.
Committing to reading gives a tangible goal. There is no compulsion but like they say, without a goal, you cannot score. If one could balance between how much content one wants to consume, through watching and through reading, and how much content, one wants to generate, that would work out the best. That would always be a struggle though but I wish to be in the group that wants to create more than consume.
I think my plan for next year would be to not go by what’s trending to read. But, I would go into what exactly I want to know about.
Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash
Recent Book Reviews
Tomorrow would be better
Diwali isn’t the same when the first thing you hear is that half of your family is coping with the C thing. Your stomach feels weird and taste feels weirder when your loved ones suffer. Of course, I won’t be the first one and the last one to feel this as whole humankind of going through this churn of uneasiness and mental upheaval.
Hopefully tomorrow would be better. That’s the message of Diwali too. Next morning should bring happiness and prosperity. Hope is what we have!
Do’s and Dont’s for Jokes in these times
According to South Park, it is okay to joke about anything after 22.3 years. But this was said by Eric Theodore Cartman in 2005. That time we didn’t have Social Media’s power which we have now. So, as per me, adjusted to inflation, the rate of social media growth, the ease of mobile phones, the handiness of the free time due to WFH, and a random constant number 3.14, the world nowadays can make a joke about anything which is 22.3 minutes old.
So there we had it. As soon as the news of disease COVID-19 caused by Virus SARS-CoV-2 came into being, it didn’t take long for the jokes to come. The first one I remember is that Indians can’t get it as we are the immune-st bunch of people because we used to clean the cricket ball, freshly taken out from the dirtiest of drains, by just bouncing it thrice and moving on. Then you would have seen the memes about more babies getting born after the quarantine and they would be called the Coronials.
The funniest part of the jokes is that as long it doesn’t happen to you, they all sound really chuckle-worthy. But as soon as something is directed at you or happens to your near & dear ones, it becomes a no-go zone for you, no matter who you are.
Therefore, I took the liberty out of the thin air and wrote some Do’s and Don’t about joking about the Corona Virus.
The Do’s & the Don’ts
- Pundemics are okay, the Pandemics aren’t.
- Racist jokes should be avoided. The maximum you can say about China is this: Nowadays, everything is Made in China.
- Jokes about Panic buying should be encouraged. People who are not panic buying are getting panicked by others panic buying because now non-panicky folks fear that if they don’t panic now, the already panicked fellows will buy everything and there will be nothing left apart from having a panic.
- Following types of jokes should be totally disbarred:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
It’s WHO.
Who WHO?
Roses are Red, Violets are blue… You travelled abroad? We need to Quarantine you.
Nobody
- Jokes about Flattening the Curve are fine. But you need to flatten your belly curve too, Sir.
- Social Distancing jokes are fine, as long as you don’t irk people permanently that they diss you and keep a distance of 10 feet from you forever. (This is the worst of them all, I Know)
- Jokes about Work From Home are fine but I want to write another blog post so I cannot pour all my creativity here.
I hope you all are following the protocol shared above as well as staying safe, aloof and giving cold vibes to everyone like it’s a Monday morning.
Jokes are what make us human. Again, jokes dry up when someone we know gets affected. Not everyone is equipped to crack jokes and not everyone is sane enough to take them. Till then, ciao? No no… sayonara… no that is also not safe and also the wrong country.
Namaste. (Can be used as a greeting as well as a goodbye, right!)
Photo by Mark Duffel on Unsplash
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2020 will be full of fireworks
Back in 2002, when I was still in school, 2020 seemed like a far fetched affair. There was some discussion originating from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s mind about 2020 would be The Year. It felt like it would be a time when the World would have totally changed. Technology would have made leaps and bounds. India would have become a superpower (wink). Unfathomable, mostly!
And here we are. 2020 has already begun and within the powerplay, life has been nothing but a turmoil with a lot of work, sleepless nights, weekend events, (thoughts and personal plan about higher studies) and before we could take a sigh of relief, we have got the main event of the year (perhaps of this century), the Covid-19.
Continue reading “2020 will be full of fireworks”