Leslie's Laughs

Image by  Tumisu  from  Pixabay   [As a departure from my usual stuff and nonsense, this is a quasi-serious post, based on calls I have had with people, fearing the prolonged extension and its aftermath which some futurists are expecting to last several months. I would seriously like you to consider the issues hidden beneath the surface here and please do leave comments and suggestions as to how the affected persons can best deal with things. Please share on your networks.] The Present Future The video I viewed today was from a guy who styles himself a 'futurist' - so now I have heard them all, futurists, defeatists, fatalists and evangelists as well as doomsday apologists. This particular guy insists that it's going to be a long time - even if the lock down lifts - to get back any semblance of normalcy. He does "data analysis" and says "years, not months". One Facebook wag posed a question: O nce we are back to work -- hope springs eternal -- will we...

Image by  Dan Wirdefalk  from  Pixabay   [Okay, so this one is on food.  Not only food, but the sudden profusion of posts about food on social media.  I'm oscillating between salivating for the goodies and resentment for those posting.  This piece takes a look at the variety of foodie things happening on my Net space during lock down.  If you have had similar experiences (or the opposite) please feel free to leave a comment, share on your media or weep with yearning along with me.] There's a meme doing the rounds which goes something like this:  Heartbreak turns people into poets, rain turns them into photographers, but quarantine makes everyone a chef. I've been wondering why my social media feeds have suddenly started showing pictures of exotic dishes, recipes for quick eats and D-I-Y videos of people cooking! So, here goes a brief roundup of my online experience which I rename "Quaranteasing". Our Daily Bread "Buns in oven!" she innocent...

Image by  Gerd Altmann  from  Pixabay   [Sitting at home, with a smartphone in one's hand, the mind is tempted to wander off to dabble with social media and the wonderful world of advertisements.  But, not the ones you usually see.  There has been a not-so-subtle change in the ads these days. I'm taking a look at what at worst could be called "bad-vertising" in this peculiar situation.  Hope you find it as funny as I do - will try not to name anyone. Please leave comments on the blog.] If I had a buck for every time I came across the words "uncertain times" or  "unprecedented situation" or even "unique response", I would be a rich man.  I'm reminded of the Batman meme where he takes an almighty swipe at the person using any of these phrases.  Of course, it's unprecedented, that's probably why the astrologers have gone relatively silent.  Foretelling the future is not in vogue anymore.  As the novelty of the Novel Coronavirus n...

Image by  mohamed Hassan  from  Pixabay   (Image changed due to objection raised by "Child Activist" in comments section) [Last time it took me a week of deliberation to decide to publish the article on 'Quaranteaching' but only another day to come up with this help file for parents.  Blame yourselves, parents. You asked for it. The flood of responses to my mailbox asking for help, can't be ignored. So here it is, my views on how parents should manage the online teaching, learning or fun!  As usual, you need to leave comments in the article itself for this to move forward. Even if you comment as "Unknown" you can leave your name in the text of the comment.] One of the earliest and most meaningful memes that popped up on Facebook at the start of the lock down went something like this:  Parents, now is your chance to show us what you can do!  Your kids are all yours! Signed, Teachers. It was obviously meant to be dripping with sarcasm and born of ye...

Image by  Mudassar Iqbal  from  Pixabay   [The term Quaranteaching is unapologetically stolen from Rianne Selwyn, an extraordinary teacher in Dubai, whose travails with the local internet provider were vented on social media recently. I avoided writing on this topic for a long time as there are just too many viewpoints and too many egos involved.  But I gave in.  So, here's my take on online classes in the days of lock down, two four-letter words that are gaining in notoriety as the corona virus gains in spread.  Please do leave your comments and share.] A few weeks ago, when we were suddenly informed of a lock down spanning 21 days, now stretched to 40 days, the kids cheered with exultation!  "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks" as Alice Cooper sang in School's Out.  Or more recently, Pink Floyd's view that "We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, No dark sarcasm in the classroom ..." Short li...

Pictures used with permission of Calcutta Parsee Club & Dalhousie Institute [In this Lockdown article I'm attempting to capture some of the experiences I have had or come across where Socializing at a Distance is the objective.  The obvious channels like Social Media will be left out as there is so much more that can be done to bridge the distances.  Have a read, leave a comment, share the article if it makes sense - or leave a rant if it doesn't!] The Play's the Thing Last night my family and I were invited to be part of an audience at a play.  We settled in comfortably and my good friend, Sumit Lai Roy , popped onto the Zoom screen and told us how the play would be rolled out. With mounting excitement we watched the various people joining in from all over the world, on our screens.  It was so brilliantly managed, the "brochure" and links had been sent earlier by mail; some instructions came over WhatsApp too.  The play itself, Three Men in a Boat and Monty...

Images by 3D Animation Production Company and Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay [This time it's about banks and their social distancing from customers in the time of Covid-19. Purely my own experiences and a bit of hearsay from others around me.  And yes, this article took longer than usual as I was ... well, read on and leave a comment or your own experience to which we can relate.  Would love to hear from you.] I spent the better part of two days at a modest running rate of 3 hours a day trying to get my bank website and mobile app to respond to the wishes of my RM - that's Relationship Manager for the uninitiated. The RM is the person (for those who are contemplating this step) who grabs you by the proverbial collar once your savings hit a certain level prescribed by the bank. He (or she in some cases) then proceeds to take you under his (or her) wing and nurture the growth of your piggy bank. with sound advice - more sound than advice at times.  As the picture above ...

[A slightly irreverent article that explores a few of the new stories emanating from the halfway mark of the lock-down in India and its effect on some groups of people. It is also Palm Sunday for Christians, commemorating the start of Holy Week. Will it be face-palm Sunday?] We are halfway through the current lockdown, if my calculations hold. So, what's it to be? Lights off, diyas on or Save the Grid, today? I woke up to this question after a sleepless night where Twitter warred with WhatsApp in my mind. Facebook kept changing sides, while the word-of-mouth, now greatly curbed by social distancing, kept cropping up in various feeds in the guise of "they say that". And all this whipped together with convincing messages from Yuval Noah Harari's Homo Deus which couldn't have popped into my hands at a more inopportune moment - all 499 pages of it seem to add fuel to the fire that is raging in my semi-stupor. Fire, did someone say? Well, that's one of the tongue-i...

[Spoiler Alert! This is not going to be about mathematics or mental issues! Well, there's probably a bit of both too, but I won't spoil it for you. As always, it's kind of serious, disguised as humour.] Like many of my readers I live in a gated community which is referred to as a "complex" - and I was about to find out why when we locked down a week or so ago. The thaali banging and clapping that preceded lock-down saw a foreign-returned family of residents in isolation "celebrating" the defeat of the virus on our terrace. Some of our neighbours called others to join the action on the terrace. Others expressed shock and awe and clapped from the safety of their homes. Naturally the airwaves were full of advice - what didn't reach us through the official groups reached us through strategically placed "posting errors" that we have become used to now. To complicate matters the four-hour window of respite that was afforded helped a number to jum...