Six Monthly Resolutions

 I don't do things by halves-except resolutions. Half-yearly resolutions are more fun. You can make and break them more often than yearly ones, for one. Like celebrating a birthday more than once. You can even celebrate daily. But anyway, I am digressing. On to my 2022 half-yearly resolutions.

Will (or Shall- sounds better) meet old friends - or any friends- more often.

Shall live life more, and work less, progressively. That's progress, right?

Shall try and appreciate other people's achievements, including simple ones, a lot more.

Shall not give speeches longer than 5 minutes, even under pressure.

Shall not stop punning, unless the brain stops functioning. If it has already, you gotta tell me.

Shall try and taste the best of food and drink, and something new regularly. Time is running out, that's why. 'Miles to go before I sleep' kind of thing, taken positively.

I will not break any resolutions, until I make ones that contradict these. Then, I will decide whether to break these or those.

I think that's pretty comprehensive...

A Gathering of Cousins

 I have several, since only my Mom alone had six sisters and a brother. And we have had many gatherings of cousins, almost each year except during the pandemic. So it was one more, that happened recently. A pretty good turnout, in which I tried a shot of Chinese Whisky ( a pic of the bottle follows), and we had a lot of food, banter and antakshari. A couple of nieces were in attendance too.

Most of the attending party. Two aunts were also there.

Grand nephew Khayal.. who I met for the first time.

Taking pics is a challenge. My brother at it- above.

Another niece.. Aparna, with Milind and me.

The Chinese whisky tastes a bit like Feni, but comes in a cute bottle 

Energy of Youth

 It is a fact of life that youth is the time when you have energy at its zenith, and it gets lower as you age. One reason why man has always been trying to reverse nature's law, and remain young. But even as you age and (hopefully) mature, you can retain the bubbly energy of the young by being with them. Their enthusiasm is contagious (much more than Omicron), and you feel young. Take a look at these pics. These are photoshoots with young students of NMIMS Bangalore. 

Monthly Manthan January 2022

 We are at the close of January 2022. So what happened here? First, the great disappointment. We were hoping that classes would resume in person, but it was short-lived. I did manage to squeeze in my guest lecture in a colleague's class, but in the wake of rising cases, we had to shut down soon. Hope February brings better tidings, and we are able to look back at almost two years of disruptions with some hope ahead. 

The fact is Omicron was less dangerous than its predecessor, though it spread faster. The peak seems over in the cities in the North and West, and the U.K. has pretty much signalled there will be no more restrictions on movements of people. A booster dose is recommended, and I will take it when eligible. Maybe one each year will be needed for a few years.

But I did catch up with family and friends when it was safe to do so. In the process, made friends with a one-year old grand-niece right here in Bangalore. And friends from the past too, at small get-togethers. An online event or two, a Ph.D. student's thesis presentation.