Halfway Mark at Covid Lockdown and the Future After

I think it was a bold and necessary step to lock down India -a vast country- for a period of three weeks. U.S.A. has not been able to bring itself to do that, nor the U.K. until recently.

The next step/s will also be critical. To isolate areas or cities with a large population (or even a significant small population) of likely spreaders, and current hot spots. If this is done well, and it may mean a spurt in detected cases- a good thing in the short run during lockdown- we may be able to prevent a larger disaster. The hot spots may need a further bunch of restrictions over a longer period, in my own view.

Either home delivery of groceries and medicines, or keeping small stores open with distancing being practiced will of course be required, and can be geared up once areas are identified that need it for longer periods. Migrant labour camps will also need to gear up and provide food and/or a kitchen and groceries.

Domestic flights except for the hotspots can be started at first, and then all domestic flights, in phases. International flights should be restricted to those who have a family emergency and can prove it..otherwise they can wait for a couple of months. Big congregations including malls, theatres will in my view, have to remain shut for a few more weeks. If not, gains made will be frittered away.

Sensible planning (and behaviour) may still carry the day. Let us hope so!

Problems Around the World

Of course, climate change and global warming are the big ones, despite denial by some of the bigwigs in world governments. (Venice going under water has not convinced them yet). But there are other serious questions that need to be asked.

For example, in the U.S. (since we think they are the greatest invention known to mankind), there are shootings galore. Don't know the stats, but seems like an average of one per week. Random killings, mostly because someone has easy access to a gun. The victims, usually school or college kids who did no wrong. Taliban, anyone?

Migration at any cost..Vietnamese in a container, boat people, or others fleeing what they see as a despondent state back home, for some reason. What makes people migrate with such fervour, without a care for the risks involved? War is an obvious answer. Abject poverty or hopelessness is the other (Venezuela is a recent case).

We are no better, as the unending stories of rape have shown us for many years. What is it that makes people sick enough to do this? Deterrence is of course a part of the solution, but what are the root causes and how do we remove those, if possible?

Hopefully, we will not get de-sensitised because of an overdose of these shootings, wars and rapes. Hopefully, we will find ways of preventing them.

Innocence Lost in Lanka and Elsewhere

There was a time when governments fought wars over territory, or colonials conquered the armamentally backward for commercial gain, all through history. Dictators occasionally chipped in with murder and mayhem, but at most of these times, common people got along well, and there was an age of innocence among them. It seems that those innocent times are now history. It is no longer an army participating in an officially declared war with some rules (Dharma Yuddh?), but anyone who has a grouse getting up and killing anyone who may or may not have had anything to do with the creation of that grouse.

Where all this will lead, is anybody's guess. This could be the time for good governance to kick in, and show that it can bring humanity back from the precipice where it finds itself. More than all the nukes in the stockpiles of the nuclear powers, this is the trend that is likely to eliminate humanity. Not sure how much of it remains, after the regular spate of killings by individuals and organisations that see no other alternatives to killing other humans.

Hopefully, there is still some hope..

PK- Film Review

It's watchable, and fun in parts, but tries your patience at times. But if it comes to a toss-up between the films of the three Khans today (leaving out Saif), I would go with Amir. There was a time when I would have gone with Shah Rukh, but sadly, that time was around DDLJ's first release- maybe even upto Kal Ho Na Ho. Anyway, back to P.K.

Some of the gags are pretty good, and so are the cinematic twists in the tale of an alien trying to understand this gola (sphere) and its denizens. The focus of the story is largely on the purveyors of religion who, in the name of God, manipulate the masses- sometimes giving them Hope, not a bad thing as one of the characters in the film says, defending himself.

Which is fine, and makes a lot of sense, in these times of the discredited Babas/Godmen of whom there is no dearth in our country. My major problem with the film is that it drags very badly in the first half- more precisely, in the second half of the first half. Had that been tightly edited, the impact of the final product would have been far better. It also does not help that the theme is similar to Oh My God, and that the Amir character looks and feels like Ranbir in Barfi, giving you a feeling of Deja Vu. Boman Irani seems underutilized, particularly as we now know what he is capable of (thanks to Rajkumar Hirani). Anushka is fairly good, though I liked her better in her earlier avatar/look. The Godman is competent. The cameo of a guy playing Shankar bhagwan is excellent! The climax is handled well, going live on a talk-show.

Watch it, if only to make a statement against the crap being (otherwise) regularly dished out on our screens.