*From & To Sathish* - Thread 4 - Page 113

On the frontlines, the Indian dream factory is turning into a nightmare

by Lata Jha, Mint, New Delhi, 31 May 2020

Will Indian cinema ever be the same again?

Sometime last week, among the barrage of baking and workout videos that have taken over the social media profiles of Bollywood stars in recent days, actor Kriti Sanon posted something different. It was a two-minute clip, of a small-time worker employed in the dress department of a local television production house.

“We haven’t been paid any of our dues. What are we supposed to do at this time of crisis?" the elderly gentleman who referred to himself as Ajamlis said. The three producing partners on the TV show he was employed in were refusing to take his calls, he added.

“We have no choice. How do we sustain right now?" the man spoke into the camera with tears in his eyes. Sanon attached a plea along with the post, asking the Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA) to clear the dues of all daily and marginal workers.

All film, television and web series production halted around the middle of March. In an industry where the gulf between top-line stars and others is wide, waiting it out is easier for some more than others. But what’s in store in the months ahead is an even bigger worry for those at the margins of the movie and entertainment industry.

Mumbai may soon cease to be the hub for all shooting activities, at least for the short term. Green zones and small towns in say Kerala, Goa or Assam will be the new destinations for Bollywood’s dream factories. Some efforts have already begun to recruit locals in such places, instead of ferrying a large film crew from Mumbai. Masks are in, at least off-camera, and hugs are out. There is even talk of strict limits on the size and age profile of film crews (since the elderly are more vulnerable to covid).

Even the social experience of watching a movie is set to change dramatically. Theatres and multiplexes, which are in panic mode after several films got released directly on to digital platforms, are ready to greatly limit seating capacity. All of this is set to unfold as the movie business is expected to contract from ₹23,600 crores to ₹12,700 crores this fiscal year, according to a projection by the rating agency CRISIL.

Bottom of the pyramid

Many of the migrants who are an intrinsic part of the labour force on film and TV sets come from India’s small towns in search of both skilled and unskilled jobs. Apart from the core team in a production house, which include accountants and senior marketing executives, most people on a set tend to be recruited for individual projects and for a limited shooting period of 70-80 days.

These include professionals such as directors, writers, actors and camera personnel, who are obviously highly paid, but also other workers like spot boys, light men, make-up artists, painters, carpenters and art department staff. The second category are paid on a monthly basis. Most of them do not make over Rs. 30,000 a month.

But their jobs are critical and often involve handling costly equipment such as lights, which require skill that has to be acquired after months of training under a supervisor. Those who rely on short-term work may also include junior artistes or small-time actors, who are often required only for a couple of days on a project.

Recognizing the dire straits many of them might be in, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) had said that it has been working toward offering some relief to its members. FWICE is the umbrella organization for 32 film craft departments and has more than 500,000 members. The Producers Guild of India had also announced its intent to set up a relief fund to help support those most affected by the shutdown. Meanwhile, actor Salman Khan had volunteered to personally transfer money to the bank accounts of 25,000 daily wagers sometime in March.

The actual execution of these initiatives, however, remains hazy on the ground.

Hari Kishan Das, a spot boy, whose job on television sets is serving food and drink to the cast and crew, admits he has received Khan’s transfers and also some money from the workers union. He was paid for March by his employer but hasn’t received remuneration for the month of April until now.

“We have been promised, so let’s see. We thought this (the lockdown) would last for some 10 days, so there was no point going home," said 36-year old Das, who belongs to Sitamarhi in Bihar and stays in the Malad West area of Mumbai with his wife and three children.

“It’s okay for someone who is single to go back home. Travelling with family is a problem," said Tufail Ahmed, who is referred to as a dress dada on the TV serial sets he works in. “We don’t know when things will start rolling, or how long we will be paid. Even for these money transfers, sharing bank details (with everyone) is an issue."

The new movie set

The survival of daily wagers, like those employed in other sectors of the economy, maybe a pressing problem but the Indian entertainment industry is also dealing with a range of other issues that threaten to change its very nature in the months and years to come as it attempts to get back on its feet after the pandemic.

The production sector is suffering huge losses on a daily basis, with expensive sets having been taken down and the studio rentals and cancellation charges being entirely borne by producers without any support from insurers; interest costs are also mounting on loans already raised to fund films. Meanwhile, reopening of cinemas post the lockdown is likely to be staggered, with each state making its own decision. On top of it, there is no clarity on the opening of the overseas markets, which are crucial for business. At least for several months, lower occupancies are expected in theatres and the backlog of releases that are in the pipeline will particularly affect smaller and medium-scale films.

Filmmakers are keenly aware that things can’t go back to the way they were. For one, the way they make their content will not be the same. Producers and studio heads say helping the cast and crew tide over the fear psychosis about working in large teams is their single-biggest concern right now. Based on internal projections, ensuring disinfected, sanitary spaces will hike film budgets by around 10-12%. Anticipated costs include masks, gloves, sanitizers and personal water bottles which can be used to repeatedly wash hands.

“Our film sets are extremely democratic in the sense that they employ everyone from top-rung actors to daily wagers. Our biggest concern is to convince all of them to congregate and create work," said Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice-president, films and television, Saregama India. Kumar added that a lot of lower-rung workers such as painters, lights-men and stuntmen have returned to their native places and finding newly trained workers will be a challenge.

Most shoots may not even happen in Mumbai or the other favourite destination for Bollywood – Delhi, which has spun out thousands of north India-centric tales, ranging from Band Baaja Baraat to Tamasha and Hindi Medium.

Given that filmmakers see the gathering of units in both cities as unfeasible for at least the next few months, the action will shift to green zones. Further, companies will avoid hiring crew members who are over 60 years of age or have family members with compromised health conditions. Scenes that require large crowds or outdoor public settings may either be tweaked or may even be supported with visual effects. Finally, salary cuts, even for A-list stars, could be around the corner.

“Everyone is aware and conscious of current realities and of the fact that every single item (in the production budget) will have to be questioned," said Ajit Andhare, chief operating officer at Viacom18 Studios. “We cannot have different rules for different people and everyone, including stars and technicians, will have to contribute."

“I expect the number of projects to come down and productions to become smaller or reduce budgets. Big budget films will definitely be the biggest hit," said Shobu Yarlagadda, co-founder and CEO of Arka Mediaworks, the company behind the blockbuster Baahubali franchise. “I think smaller budget films in a contained environment will be more feasible and production houses will gravitate to high-concept, content-driven scripts that can be filmed in minimal settings or environments."

The new movie theatre

But the most visible and immediate fallout might be in the neighbourhood theatre. As the fear of watching a film in closed auditoriums with strangers looms large, theatre owners are putting together safety measures that will help them regain the trust of people. Each week that theatres remain shut, the film business in India loses Rs. 80-90 crore.

These losses will be hard to recoup given that people, at least families or non-film buffs, are unlikely to return to the theatres soon even if they manage to reopen. Plus, chains like Carnival, PVR and INOX are planning to reduce seating capacity in standard auditoriums by around 30%. According to a notification sent out by the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), global cinema standards dictate that while families and couples can sit together, one adjacent seat on both their sides would be left empty to account for social distancing.

Further, MAI rules mandate body checks with infrared scanners, masks and PPE kit counters where viewers can buy them, hand sanitizers at all strategic locations, contactless ticketing and online ordering of food and beverages (made with single-use disposable packaging).

But even if all these measures take effect, will Indians continue to watch movies in theatres? After all, the spike in viewership of video streaming platforms probably suggests that they have emerged as an apt alternative to the big screen (a study by broadcast agency BARC and data measurement firm Nielsen reports a 96% increase in user base and 10% rise in time spent).

Murmurs about an impending wave of direct-to-digital movie releases are rife. Amazon Prime Video is set to premiere at least seven new films, which were earlier meant for theatrical release. But production budgets will determine such shifts.

“Tentpoles such as Sooryavanshi and ’83 are anyway out of reach for streaming platforms (because digital sales will not help recoup their Rs. 100 crore plus budgets) and they will push people to theatres whenever they reopen," a producer, negotiating for his own film, said on condition of anonymity. “However, there is an upper-mid range of films, which would anyway have been second to the biggies, that these platforms are picking up now."

Clearly, all manner of things are fluid. But the fluidity could also spawn new kinds of films, or new imaginations of intimacy, at a safe social distance. And while the road ahead does seem tough, producers are hopeful. Conversations within the industry indicate a possibility of theatres reopening by July and production resuming before that.

“Every business has good and bad years," said Kanupriya, chief executive officer at producer Aanand L. Rai’s Colour Yellow Productions that has films like Zero and the Tanu Weds Manu franchise to its credit. “In my mind, though, there is no doubt that the theatrical experience will bounce back, simply because it gives us all so much more as social beings."

Vaanathai Pola 148

Every political party worth its salt in India have their own secret friends and partners in the most powerful places who rather lurk in the dark are their right in your face and also influencing your thoughts and perceptions.

I give you the Television and today's print media.

It starts with selling and ends with a successful product sale. Selling ourselves is something we all know how to do and are familiar with that from the day we are born. Our, inbuilt instincts as a baby are to smile and charm or whimper and wail, and both have the desired result and that the baby is fed, comforted or picked up because it wants to.

When a product like a toiletry item is launched by a multi-national company, they don't use actors like Vadivelu or Senthil to market that product and instead use popular and glamorous stars like Katrina, Kareena or Alia Bhatt and even Shah rukh who modelled for Lux soap that was obviously meant for the fairer sex.

With a popular face, attractive face, well known and successful face as their front, advertising companies have a field day with their selling.

For example, most people equate Big B Amitabh as someone with integrity and character.

Someone like Katrina is used for juices and ice-creams and that too involving her tongue sticking out a lot.

Shah Rukh is used a lot for cars and clothes

Aamir is used a lot for watches and satellite connections

why even Dhoni and Kohli are the most popular star models who guarantee you instant sales

No wonder they are paid in crores of rupees.

As of this moment, Republic tv and times now are the unofficial spoke persons of the BJP and Mr.Modi. What he wants to be said or done is slowly leaked out through these channels and the people are unconsciously readied, prepared and when the actual message is released, you and I go ' Obviously we knew this was coming.'

One of the most popular product marketed thus is the increase in fuel prices.

You will read and hear rumours whispering that the fuel prices are going up and you will wince in pain and feel that familiar burn down below and will throw up a prayer to the gods.

Then a few days later, you will read the official version from the Govt that they are considering a steep hike of the fuel prices and you will fall on your knees and beg ' Please, no.'

Then a few days later, the fuel prices are raised by 10 to 20 per cent and you feel pain in your chest.

Hold on for the real magic begins now and the very next day, either the minister of that dept or the prime minister will declare, ' Considering the hardships the citizens are facing with the fuel price increases, I have decided to reduce it and keep it to 10 per cent rather than 20 per cent.'

Immediately, the minister or the Prime minister is praised, worshipped and garlanded and welcomed as a saviour of humanity while we still got f..k.d and burdened by the remaining 10 per cent increase. That is who we are and that is how the sheep are readied and taken to the slaughter and with the sheep themselves singing praises of the man who is going to chop their heads off.

With all this said, Commissioner Vishwanathan was delegated to speak to the press along with the Home Minister about the incident that took place at the Crowne Plaza hotel, the kidnapping at the Apollo hospitals, the death of Selvam, the discovery of a burnt body in the swamps of Velachery.

But most importantly, the question in everyone's mind and lips were concerning the reaction of Jagatratchagan the leader of the Thevar community.

The Home Ministry in any state is one of the most important and most powerful cabinet berth to hold for under its purview falls the Police department and along with it the Intelligence Wing and the judiciary. Well, power and the power to wield it and need I say more.

The home ministry along with the excise department is being jointly managed by the Chief minister himself along with Minister Thangamani and it is the latter mentioned minister who was answering the questions about the incidents in Chennai over the past few days among other things that were both criminal and civil in nature.

Indian Express reporter, Bharathi Kannan raised his thin and ancient hand and asked, ' Sir, how could such an incident take place in a five-star hotel and that too here in Chennai?'

Minister Thangamani was ready for this and answered calmly and politely, ' Iyaa, the police can watch over people who are outside and in public places and cannot keep watch over what is happening inside your houses or inside hotels. It is the hotel's security that has to serve and protect its customers.'

Not backing down, Bharathi with his hand still in the air, ' sir, it is well known that the person who was behind the Crowne Plaza hotel was one Mr.Selvam and who is the only son of Jagatratchagan, the popular Thevar community leader.'

' Your question, please.'

' Mr Jagatratchagan also happens to be the Chief minister's close friend.'

Minister Thangamani shook his head, ' I repeat again that you ask the question instead of stating facts and wasting your time and my time.'

' My question to you Minister is if Mr.Jagatratchagan will continue to support the ruling party and the Chief Minister after his son's death.

' That question should be directed to Mr.Jagatratchagan and not to me or my party.'

Flashing a knowing smile, the minister looked at the journalist, 'if you think the kind and noble Jagatratchagan is going to be upset with us for what his son did, the answer is no for he is a wise man and is not prone to making decisions based on emotions and the chief minister has already spoken to him and is personally involved in this case.'

The journalist from the Hindu newspaper, Janaki raised her hand and said, ' my question is for the Commissioner.'

She looked at Commissioner Vishwanathan, ' sir, a Whatsapp video and photos of a burnt body have been doing the rounds from early this morning and I have confirmed news that a man went missing from the Apollo hospitals.'

She looked at the Commissioner, ' sir, it is already on record that a man was injured and was taken to the Apollo hospitals under the direction of Minister Kavita Arumugam herself and this was the man who stood up against Mr.Selvam and his five companions. Can you please tell us if it is the same man in all these situations that I have mentioned and can you please tell us the name of this person.'

Minister Thangamani gulped and reached for the bottle of water and looked at the Commissioner and thought to himself, ' God help you, boss.'

But the man himself was made up of a different mettle than a politician and not an easy person to tackle and corner by such obvious and righteous questions as Janaki from The Hindu was about to find out.

' Ma'am, I will begin answering your questions by saying that I cannot at this time divulge the name or information about the man who was involved in the Crowne Plaza hotel incident for it is a matter of security and since it concerns an ongoing investigation.'

Clearing his throat, ' But, I can confirm that a patient did go missing from the Apollo hospital and I can also confirm that a burnt body was found in the marshes of Velachery.'

Janaki spread her hands, ' Then, it must be obviously assumed that it is the same person, isn't it, Commissioner sir.'

' Ma'am, I had no idea that your newspaper printed stories based on assumptions and rumours rather than based on hard and proven facts.'

It was an answer and a question that left Janaki herself to feel cornered and before she could rally and try to wriggle out by asking another question, everyone there including Janaki saw the Commissioner raise a page from The Hindu newspaper itself and say, ' This is an article from your newspaper and written by yourself in which you state that nearly 7 people go missing every day in Chennai alone.'

Placing the newspaper back on the table, he looked at her pointedly, ' Ma'am, do you realize the work involved in tracing all these people and the manpower involved. Coming back to your question about the burnt body, the crime lab as we speak is doing a DNA test on the recovered body and we will have the results in a week or so.'

Janaki was not going to let him off so easily and she now launched the missile that she had kept for the last and asked, ' then how do you explain the note left near the body that says " Death to all those who oppose us."

Commissioner Viswanathan hid his surprise and the ensuing anger well and taking a sip of water used that vital seconds to calm himself and masking his emotions better than most actors smiled and replied, ' You are right, ma'am but the question here is about the who and the us, the note denotes in the message.'

' Isn't it obvious, Commissioner sir that it means the man who stood against Selvam and the community he belongs to.'

The entire hall fell silent and everyone's eyes including the Home ministers were now trained on Commissioner Viswanathan who again smiled and in a calm voice answered, ' So, we are back again to assumptions and rumours based on a note left behind.'

A veteran of nearly three decades working as a high ranking police officer, Commissioner Vishwanathan now openly glared at Janaki and asked, ' So, in the end, all you want is information based on assumptions, rumours and without any valid proof and why, so you can write your news and get your headlines. Answer this question, ma'am. What is more important to you, the right news or the wrong news that might incite violence and chaos in this state? Where will you be when people riot, burn buses and put the public at risk? will you be safe at home and watching what false and baseless rumours have caused on your large screen tv? I, on the other hand, will be with my men, on the streets doing my best to calm people and trying to put an end to violence and destruction of public property and placing myself in harm's way.'

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/5-children-go-missing-in-tn-daily-scrb/articleshow/64142284.cms

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/7-persons-go-missing-in-Tamil-Nadu-every-day/articleshow/11311762.cms

How We Broke the World-Greed and globalization set us up for disaster.

By Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times,

May 30, 2020

If recent weeks have shown us anything, it’s that the world is not just flat. It’s fragile.

And we’re the ones who made it that way with our own hands. Just look around. Over the past 20 years, we’ve been steadily removing man-made and natural buffers, redundancies, regulations and norms that provide resilience and protection when big systems — be they ecological, geopolitical or financial — get stressed. We’ve been recklessly removing these buffers out of an obsession with short-term efficiency and growth, or without thinking at all.

At the same time, we’ve been behaving in extreme ways — pushing against, and breaching, common-sense political, financial and planetary boundaries.

And, all the while, we’ve taken the world technologically from connected to interconnected to interdependent — by removing more friction and installing more grease in global markets, telecommunications systems, the internet and travel. In doing so, we’ve made globalization faster, deeper, cheaper and tighter than ever before. Who knew that there were regular direct flights from Wuhan, China, to America?

Put all three of these trends together and what you have is a world more easily prone to shocks and extreme behaviors — but with fewer buffers to cushion those shocks — and many more networked companies and people to convey them globally.

This, of course, was revealed clearly in the latest world-spanning crisis — the coronavirus pandemic. But this trend of more frequent destabilizing crises has been building over the past 20 years: 9/11, the Great Recession of 2008, Covid-19 and climate change. Pandemics are no longer just biological — they are now geopolitical, financial and atmospheric, too. And we will suffer increasing consequences unless we start behaving differently and treating Mother Earth differently.

Note the pattern: Before each crisis I mentioned, we first experienced what could be called a “mild” heart attack, alerting us that we had gone to extremes and stripped away buffers that had protected us from catastrophic failure. In each case, though, we did not take that warning seriously enough — and in each case the result was a full global coronary.

“We created globalized networks because they could make us more efficient and productive and our lives more convenient,” explained Gautam Mukunda, the author of “Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter.” “But when you steadily remove their buffers, backup capacities and surge protectors in pursuit of short-term efficiency or just greed, you ensure that these systems are not only less resistant to shocks, but that we spread those shocks everywhere.”

Let’s start with 9/11. You could view Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, as political pathogens that emerged out of the Middle East after 1979. “Islam lost its brakes in 1979” — its resistance to extremism was badly compromised — said Mamoun Fandy, an expert on Arab politics.

That was the year that Saudi Arabia lurched backward, after Islamist extremists took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca and an Islamic revolution in Iran brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power. Those events set up a competition between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia over who was the real leader of the Muslim world. That battle coincided with a surge in oil prices that gave both fundamentalist regimes the resources to propagate their brands of puritanical Islam, through mosques and schools, across the globe.

In doing so, they together weakened any emerging trends toward religious and political pluralism — and strengthened austere fundamentalism and its violent fringes.

Remember: The Muslim world was probably at its most influential, culturally, scientifically and economically, in the Middle Ages, when it was a rich and diverse polyculture in Moorish Spain.

Diverse ecosystems, in nature and in politics, are always more resilient than monocultures. Monocultures in agriculture are enormously susceptible to disease — one virus or germ can wipe out an entire crop. Monocultures in politics are enormously susceptible to diseased ideas.

Thanks to Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Arab-Muslim world became much more of a monoculture after 1979. And the idea that violent Islamist jihadism would be the engine of Islam’s revival — and that purging the region of foreign influences, particularly American, was its necessary first step — gained much wider currency.

This ideological pathogen spread — through mosques, cassette tapes and then the internet — to Pakistan, North Africa, Europe, India and Indonesia.

The warning bell that this idea could destabilize even America rang on Feb. 26, 1993, at 12:18 p.m., when a rental van packed with explosives blew up in the parking garage below the 1 World Trade Center building in Manhattan. The bomb failed to bring down the building as intended, but it badly damaged the main structure, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000.

The mastermind of the attack, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a Pakistani, later told F.B.I. agents that his only regret was that the 110-story tower did not collapse into its twin and kill thousands.

What happened next we all know: The direct hits on both twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, which set off a global economic and geopolitical crisis that ended with the United States spending several trillion dollars trying to immunize America against violent Islamic extremism — via a massive government-directed surveillance system, renditions and airport metal detectors — and by invading the Middle East.

The United States and its allies toppled the dictators in Iraq and Afghanistan, hoping to stimulate more political pluralism, gender pluralism and religious and educational pluralism — antibodies to fanaticism and authoritarianism. Unfortunately, we didn’t really know how to do this in such distant lands, and we botched it; the natural pluralistic antibodies in the region also proved to be weak.

Either way — as in biology, so, too, in geopolitics — the virus of Al Qaeda mutated, picking up new elements from its hosts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result, violent Islamic extremism became even more virulent, thanks to subtle changes in its genome that transformed it into ISIS, or the Islamic State.

This emergence of ISIS, and parallel mutations in the Taliban, forced the United States to remain in the area to just manage the outbreaks, but nothing more.

The Great Recession

The 2008 global banking crisis played out in similar ways. The warning was delivered by a virus known by the initials LTCM — Long-Term Capital Management.

LTCM was a hedge fund set up in 1994 by the investment banker John Meriweather, who assembled a team of mathematicians, industry veterans and two Nobel Prize winners. The fund used mathematical models to predict prices and tons of leverage to amplify its founding capital of $1.25 billion to make massive, and massively profitable, arbitrage bets.

It all worked — until it didn’t.

“In August 1998,” recalled Business Insider, “Russia defaulted on its debt. Three days later, markets all over the world started sinking. Investors began pulling out left and right. Swap spreads were at unbelievable levels. Everything was plummeting. In one day, Long-Term lost $553 million, 15 percent of its capital. In one month it lost almost $2 billion.”

Hedge funds lose money all the time, default and go extinct. But LTCM was different.

The firm had leveraged its bets with so much capital from so many different big global banks — with no trading transparency, so none of its counterparties had a picture of LTCM’s total exposure — that if it were allowed to go bankrupt and default, it would have exacted huge losses on dozens of investments houses and banks on Wall Street and abroad.

More than $1 trillion was at risk. It took a $3.65 billion bailout package from the Federal Reserve to create herd immunity from LTCM for the Wall Street bulls.

The crisis was contained and the lesson was clear: Don’t let anyone make such big, and in some ways extreme, bets with such tremendous leverage in a global banking system where there is no transparency as to how much a single player has borrowed from many different sources.

A decade later, the lesson was forgotten, and we got the full financial disaster of 2008.

This time we were all in the casino. There were four main financial vehicles (that became financial pathogens) that interacted to create the global crisis of 2008. They were called subprime mortgages, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), commercial mortgage-backed securities (C.M.B.S.) and collateralized debt obligations (C.D.O.s).

Banks and less-regulated financial institutions engaged in extremely reckless subprime and adjustable rate mortgage lending, and then they and others bundled these mortgages into mortgage-backed securities. Meanwhile, rating agencies classified these bonds as much less risky than they really were.

The whole system depended on housing prices endlessly rising. When the housing bubble burst — and many homeowners could not pay their mortgages — the financial contagion infected huge numbers of global banks and insurance companies, not to mention millions of mom-and-pops.

We had breached the boundaries of financial common sense. With the world’s financial system more hyper-connected and leveraged than ever, only huge bailouts by central banks prevented a full-on economic pandemic and depression caused by failing commercial banks and stock markets.

In 2010, we tried to immunize the banking system against a repeat with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in America and with the Basel III new capital and liquidity standards adopted by banking systems around the world. But ever since then, and particularly under the Trump administration, financial services companies have been lobbying, often successfully, to weaken these buffers, threatening a new financial contagion own the road.

This one could be even more dangerous because computerized trading now makes up more than half of stock trading volume globally. These traders use algorithms and computer networks that process data at a thousandth or millionth of a second to buy and sell stocks, bonds or commodities.

Alas, there is no herd immunity to greed.

I don’t think that I need to spend much time on the Covid-19 pandemic, except to say that the warning sign was also there. It appeared in late 2002 in the Guangdong province of southern China. It was a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus — SARS-CoV — known for short as SARS.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website notes, “Over the next few months, the illness spread to more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia” before it was contained. More than 8,000 people worldwide became sick, including close to 800 who died. The United States had eight confirmed cases of infection and no deaths.

The coronavirus that caused SARS was hosted by bats and palm civets. It jumped to humans because we had been pushing and pushing high-density urban population centers more deeply into wilderness areas, destroying that natural buffer and replacing it with monoculture crops and concrete.

When you simultaneously accelerate development in ways that destroy more and more natural habitats and then hunt for more wildlife there, “the natural balance of species collapses due to loss of top predators and other iconic species, leading to an abundance of more generalized species adapted to live in human-dominated habitats,” Johan Rockstrom, the chief scientist at Conservation International, explained to me.

These include rats, bats, palm civets and some primates, which together host a majority of all known viruses that can be passed on to humans. And when these animals are then hunted, trapped and taken to markets — in particular in China, Central Africa and Vietnam, where they are sold for food, traditional medicine, potions and pets — they endanger humans, who did not evolve with these viruses.

SARS jumped from mainland China to Hong Kong in February 2003, when a visiting professor, Dr. Liu Jianlun, who unknowingly had SARS, checked into Room 911 at Hong Kong’s Metropole Hotel.

Yup, Room 9-1-1. I am not making that up.

“By the time he checked out,” The Washington Post reported, “Liu had spread a deadly virus directly to at least eight guests. They would unknowingly take it with them to Singapore, Toronto, Hong Kong and Hanoi, where the virus would continue to spread. Of more than 7,700 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome tallied so far worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 4,000 can be traced to Liu’s stay on the ninth floor of the Metropole Hotel.”

It is important to note, though, that SARS was contained by July 2003 before becoming a full-fledged pandemic — thanks in large part to rapid quarantines and tight global cooperation among public health authorities in many countries. Collaborative multinational governance proved to be a good buffer.

Alas, that was then. The latest coronavirus is aptly named SARS-CoV-2 — with emphasis on the number 2. We don’t yet know for sure where this coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19 came from, but it is widely suspected to have jumped to a human from a wild animal, maybe a bat, in Wuhan, China. Similar jumps are bound to happen more and more as we keep stripping away nature’s natural biodiversity and buffers.

“The more simplified and less diverse ecological systems become, especially in huge and ever-expanding urban areas, the more we will become the targets of these emerging pests, unbuffered by the vast array of other species in a healthy ecosystem,” explained Russ Mittermeier, the head of Global Wildlife Conservation and one of the world’s top experts on primates.

What we know for sure, though, is that some five months after this coronavirus jumped into a human in Wuhan, more than 100,000 Americans were dead and more than 40 million unemployed.

While the coronavirus arrived in the U.S. via both Europe and Asia, most Americans probably don’t realize just how easy it was for this pathogen to get here. From December through March, when the pandemic was launching, there were some 3,200 flights from China to major U.S. cities, according to a study by ABC News. Among those were 50 direct flights from Wuhan. From Wuhan! How many Americans had even heard of Wuhan?

The vastly expanded global network of planes, trains and ships, combined with far too few buffers of global cooperation and governance, combined with the fact that there are almost eight billion people on the planet today (compared with 1.8 billion when the 1918 flu pandemic hit), enabled this coronavirus to spread globally in the blink of an eye.

Climate Catastrophe

You have to be in total denial not to see all of this as one giant flashing warning signal for our looming — and potentially worst — global disaster, climate change.

I don’t like the term climate change to describe what’s coming. I much prefer “global weirding,” because the weather getting weird is what is actually happening. The frequency, intensity and cost of extreme weather events all increase. The wets get wetter, the hots get hotter, the dry periods get drier, the snows get heavier, the hurricanes get stronger.

Weather is too complex to attribute any single event to climate change, but the fact that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more expensive — especially in a world of crowded cities like Houston and New Orleans — is indisputable.

The wise thing would be for us to get busy preserving all of the ecological buffers that nature endowed us with, so we could manage what are now the unavoidable effects of climate change and focus on avoiding what would be unmanageable consequences.

Because, unlike biological pandemics like Covid-19, climate change does not “peak.” Once we deforest the Amazon or melt the Greenland ice sheet, it’s gone — and we will have to live with whatever extreme weather that unleashes.

One tiny example: The Washington Post noted that the Edenville Dam that burst in Midland, Mich., this month, forcing 11,000 people out of their homes after unusually heavy spring rains, “took some residents by surprise, but it didn’t come as such a shock to hydrologists and civil engineers, who have warned that climate change and increased runoff from development is putting more pressure on poorly maintained dams, many of them built — like those in Midland — to generate power early in the 20th century.”

But unlike the Covid-19 pandemic, we have all the antibodies we need to both live with and limit climate change. We can have herd immunity if we just preserve and enhance the buffers that we know give us resilience. That means reducing CO₂ emissions, protecting forests that store carbon and filter water and the ecosystems and species diversity that keep them healthy, protecting mangroves that buffer storm surges and, more generally, coordinating global governmental responses that set goals and limits and monitor performance.

As I look back over the last 20 years, what all four of these global calamities have in common is that they are all “black elephants,” a term coined by the environmentalist Adam Sweidan. A black elephant is a cross between “a black swan” — an unlikely, unexpected event with enormous ramifications — and the “elephant in the room” — a looming disaster that is visible to everyone, yet no one wants to address.

In other words, this journey I have taken you on may sound rather mechanistic and inevitable. It was not. It was all about different choices, and different values, that humans and their leaders brought to bear at different times in our globalizing age — or didn’t.

Technically speaking, globalization is inevitable. How we shape it is not.

Or, as Nick Hanauer, the venture capitalist and political economist, remarked to me the other day: “Pathogens are inevitable, but that they turn into pandemics is not.’’

We decided to remove buffers in the name of efficiency; we decided to let capitalism run wild and shrink our government’s capacities when we needed them most; we decided not to cooperate with one another in a pandemic; we decided to deforest the Amazon; we decided to invade pristine ecosystems and hunt their wildlife. Facebook decided not to restrict any of President Trump’s incendiary posts; Twitter did. And too many Muslim clerics decided to let the past bury the future, not the future bury the past.

That’s the uber lesson here: As the world gets more deeply intertwined, everyone’s behavior — the values that each of us bring to this interdependent world — matters more than ever. And, therefore, so does the “Golden Rule.” It’s never been more important.

Do unto others as you wish them to do unto you, because more people in more places in more ways on more days can now do unto you and you unto them like never before.

Unknown and Nameless-11

Pallavi sat leaning against Ashok who held her with his right arm around her and then the moment passed, the purpose of touch was over and the deed done.

She looked at him with a new brightness in her eyes and said, ' I have attended many Reiki sessions and mind and soul cleansing sessions. But, none of them ever made me feel like what I am feeling right now.'

She took a deep breath and exhaled and inhaled again and said, ' I feel lighter and stronger.'

Looking at Ashok, ' why is that, Ashok?'

He pointed to her head and said, ' It is all up here, Pallavi. Like the famous, Shakespeare words from Hamlet, " To be or not to be", each one of us have the power to be happy or sad. Some, thrive on sadness and self-pity, and strangely derive energy and power from it to go about their lives, while most draw their energies from their purposes and good deeds. But, even there, it is two sides of a story and as long as a person's actions don't interfere with another, it is all okay.'

' You mean live and let live.'

Ashok nodded and went back to staring at Catherine's grave and Pallavi went on staring at them for a few quiet minutes and then asked, ' What do I do now Ashok?'

' Now, you go home while I spend some more time with Catherine.'

' What I meant was what do I do now with my life?'

' Whatever you feel like doing, Pallavi, For, it is your life and the choices are yours to make.'

' What if I don't do anything and just go on with life as it is and let things be as they are?'

Ashok lifted his head and looked at her, ' as things are right now? How are things right now, Pallavi? Are you happy?'

Pallavi shook her head sadly, 'no but I am scared of upsetting the balance in my marriage and am scared of things getting more worse than it is now.'

He nodded, ' I wonder what your husband has to say about all that you feel and think and endure?'

' Pallavi, you are not a coward. So, what is stopping you from being what you really can be and doing all that you like and enjoy.'

He leant and used his palm to gently sweep a fine film of dust that had settled on Catherine's grave and said, ' Ashes to ashes and dust to dust and in the end, kings and queens, servants and commoners meets the same fate. It is not how long you lived but how well you lived and...'

He left the sentence unfinished and she said, ' finish it please.'

' By not living your life, you are also stopping your husband from living his life. By not being happy, you are denying your husband his happiness. Be grateful for what God had blessed you with Pallavi and if you cannot live for yourself, at least live for others and their happiness.'

Pallavi slowly got to her feet and Ashok looked up at her and said, ' All the best. You are a winner and will always be a winner. Now, go and take control of your life and live it to its fullest.'

She smiled, nodded and then bending down gently brushed her lips against his and walked towards the entrance and towards her car.

Unknown and Nameless-12

Mahadevan got out of his own White BMW that had come to pick him up from the airport and stared at the empty space meant for his wife's Black BMW and smiled to himself with melancholy filling his thoughts and looked at his watch and saw the time was 7.30 pm and that meant she was out and spending time with her friends.

He slowly made his way to the bedroom that was empty like the garage and the fragrance of Pallavi's expensive perfume filled his lungs and his soul and he slowly sank to the bed fully dressed and with his shoes still on his feet.

Hearing the door open and wondering who in the house had the audacity to enter their inner sanctum, reached to his side and switched on the soft yellow lights and saw Pallavi standing there.

' your garage space was empty, so I thought that you were out with your friends.'

' The car has been sent for its service.'

' So, what, you could have taken my car and gone out.'

' I take your car while you return back home in a cab.'

' A cab is a car too.'

She slowly removed his shoes and socks and then gently massaged his feet and Devan let out a huge groan, ' God, that feels so good, Pallavi. I was on my feet for nearly five hours and am also feeling very famished. But, the deal is done and all is good for us and our company.'

Finished with his right leg, she now lifted his left leg and placing it on her lap, slowly massaged his foot and both looked at each other.

Pallavi looked into his eyes, ' Is it okay if I speak now?'

He looked at her, ' You even asking me that question is not only insulting my love for you but also very hurting.'

' I am sorry but you have just come back from a gruelling trip and I was wondering whether I should be disturbing you with my thoughts.'

He spread his arms wide and said, ' Wife, please, come into my arms, right now.'

She lay on him and he brought his arms around her and hugging her tightly said, ' You are my whole world and everything that I do is for you and for our son. So, please, feel free to speak what is in your mind and without asking for my permission.'

He slowly covered her lips with his and she kissed him back and they gave into each other.

They lay side by side, looking into each other's eyes and he asked her, ' Talk to me, baby. Please, really talk to me for you are the only person in this whole world that I consider as my friend and confidante.'

Pallavi spoke and spoke for a long time.

' I am not going to ask you why you never told me all this before and I will never ask why you are doing it now for I am thankful that at least you did so.'

' A friend, an angel is the reason.'

' God bless that angel and thank God for blessing us with this angel.'

Heart to heart

Modi came and Modi spoke and declared a Lockdown that was the first. Modi came again and extended the lockdown that became the second. But Modi did not come for the third, fourth and fifth. Modi did not come for the exit of the lockdown.

Modi wrote a letter to the nation and Modi apologized to the Migrant citizens.

For now, Modi will do and will do better than Rahul for Modi is a better leader, a figurehead to lead and for us to follow. We Indians know subconsciously that we need a strong hand, a tough master, dictator even for we know very well about our characters and our habits.

All the debates in all the channels in all the languages have one thing in common and that have proven time and time again that we are all crabs living in a bucket and whose mantra is' I can't get down, so you will not get down. So, let me help you with my claws and teeth and drag you down to the level I am in.'

In 2018 alone, nearly 151 thousand people died due to road accidents.

Compare that with the number 5,829 for that is how many have died due to the coronavirus.

Every year nearly one million Indian die due to diabetes and related issues.

Every year, nearly 1.3 million people die due to heart attacks and cardiac arrests and other cardio-related problems.

In 2018 nearly 29,000 people were murdered.

So, you see, this so-called Corona is not such a big deal for India and its citizens.

I wish and really hope that our leaders deal with these cases and death with the same vigour and motivation as they have done with the Coronavirus.

We have to learn to live with this Coronavirus as we have learnt to live with a lot of other sick Sh.t in our lives and I mean it literally.

We live amongst others who don't use soap to wash their hands after they have visited the toilet.

remedy for that is don't fu..ing shake hands with people you don't know and just fold your hands and say hi or better, just smile.

We live amongst others who run and jog in the morning and do that in the middle of the road while there are huge platforms available on both sides.

You tell them politely that they are putting themselves at risk and they will politely or impolitely ask you to F..k off.

We live amongst fellow citizens who scratch and explore their genitals and then offer the same hand with great pleasure and expect you to take it and shake it and I will not talk about those whose hands were behind them and hard at work with their own ass...es as if they had lost a ring there and were hard at work by searching for it in there.

Then there is the noses, ears, mouth and then there are those loud burps and fa..s.

Stop and wonder if this is not another Wuhan we are living in and how in the name of God have we survived all this while without a major pandemic and extinction-level event in India.

Because we have learnt to live with it, my fellow citizens.

But people who come here from outside have not and that is why they have the runs and dysentery and spend most of their time running to the loo or running back from the loo.

For our loos are like evil demons going ' Boo', holy crap.

Hey, like I said, heart to heart.

A Maharashtra housewife makes a beautiful documentary film of birds and nature seen through her window

Says Seema Rajeshirke about this beautiful film:

"Window birding" is a short film based on my wildlife photography journey, which started when I first learned how to photograph birds with a camera through my window.

While emphasizing the importance of nature to the human world, the documentary encourages everyone to enjoy the natural heritage that surrounds them which could have been ignored due to the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

This documentary won first place in the Maharashtra Government's Environmental Vasundhara Short Film Competition and also in The Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Competition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbhUuOxltA

Vaanathai Pola 149

Chennai Police Commissioner Vishwanathan knew that he had not seen the end of Janaki, the senior reporter from The Hindu and knew that he would be crossing paths with her sooner than later.

' Sooner, it seems' he muttered to himself with a smile that concealed his anger and frustration at being unable to wriggle out of the sticky situation and on coming face to face with Janaki again and that too near his vehicle.

' Hello, so we meet again and again it seems' he greeted her with a smile.

' Story of my life, Commissioner and it is the story that defines me and my career and right from the time it started, twenty-five years ago.'

He smiled and after a moment spent on recollecting, he looked at her, ' I remember that article very well and that it spooked a lot of people and especially in the political circles for it was you who made the connections between many of the political parties with the dreaded gangster, Auto Shankar. But nothing came out of it and things have remained the same then, now and will also in the future after we are gone.'

' Commissioner sir, I know you are doing your job but the truth has to be told for the people have a right to it and it is they who are our masters. I am just doing my job.'

' As am I, Mrs Janaki. Like you, I too am just doing my job.'

' What about the truth, sir? What about what is right and what is wrong?'

Chennai Police Commissioner Vishwanathan looked at her, ' off the record and I mean it.'

The Hindu senior reporter, Janaki nodded, ' off the record and I promise that this conversation is just between you and me.'

' Mrs Janaki, you spoke about people, our people, our fellow citizens and their right to the truth. Honestly, do you think these people really care about what is really happening in the world? All they want is their security and safety to eat, drink and go about their lives watching tv and movies and live out their god-given and godforsaken lives.'

He looked at her and smiled and shook his head and said, ' Have you seen it?'

' seen what Commissioner sir?'

' The web series based on Auto Shankar?'

' No, not yet and I might not see it at all.'

Commissioner Vishwanathan looked at her, ' I am told that it is the highest-grossing Tamil web-series as of now and is competing with film director Gautam Menon's new web series on the late chief minister which is titled " Queen."

' What about your own personal obligation to the truth, Commissioner sir?'

' Mrs.Janaki, I am a police officer and not a magician.'

Raising an eyebrow, ' he asked her, ' Who pays you your salary and who do you report to?'

' The newspaper and I report to the editor, Mr.Ram.'

' Likewise, I report to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and I am paid to do my job by the Government of Tamil Nadu and so, my obligation is to my employer and not to anybody else.'

Smiling sadly, ' Now, if I see a crime happening in front of me, then it matters not even if it is the Chief minister himself who is the criminal for I will act and take swift action but I cannot do what I want or say what I want without orders from above, way above and without proof and neither should you, Mrs Janaki.'

He sighed and looked away from her and spoke in a whisper and Janaki felt that he was talking to himself, ' It is a sad world, ma'am and it will get a lot worse as the years pass us by. There is no more a safe haven or an oasis to hide from the evil and corruption that is today's world.'

Turning back to her, ' I used to dream that after my retirement, I would move away to a place far away from the city to some quiet and idyllic village and live out my days in quiet and in peace.'

Janaki chuckled, ' if you do find such a place, send me the address, please.'

' Oh no! Never. But, I will try to send you a photo or two. Bye for now, and see you around in the next press meet, and hopefully under better circumstances and if we are lucky, regarding issues that are less gruesome than the one that was on today's menu.'

Vaanathai Pola 150

Twilight had given way to night and to darkness and Radhu felt the vibration of his mobile phone and saw it was his mother who was calling and answered it.

' Ammi.'

' Baby, how are you doing? Are you safe?'

' Yes, Ammi. Safe and in the confines of my own room.'

Shinogai smiled, ' locked from the outside.'

' Locked and loaded and ready to rumble.'

' She came here. Kavita came here to see Raja.'

Radhu sat up, ' I thought she might do that.'

' Well, she did and she is now inside the circle.'

' Ammi, she had to know at some point and I am glad that it was sooner than later.'

Shinogai remained silent and Radhu asked warily, ' Do you approve?'

' Baby, you and I are one. My blood flows in you and in your soul and if you have made a choice then you wouldn't have made it lightly. So, yes, I approve and give you both my blessings, wholeheartedly. But'

' But, what, Ammi?'

' Radhu baby. She hails from a very famous family and to top it is in the business of politics and is an active politician herself. How are you going to make your world and her world meet at a common point, my child?'

' I don't know Ammi. I am sorry but all those thoughts never crossed my mind.'

Mother and son remained quiet and then Radhu spoke, ' It has been more than five years since Zareen and Abu were killed and it has been five years since I have been with a woman, leave alone think of a woman. But, that all changed the moment I saw her and her eyes saw me.'

' You are right, Radhu. She reminded me so much of Zareen. But, baby, our lives are so different and distant from that of an average person's life. It is going to be very difficult, my son and I hope you know that.'

' I know that, Ammi. But, such is love and being in love.'

He heard and felt her thoughts through the phone, ' Ammi, I am the son of Shinogai. A woman who has remained faithful for more than 35 years. I am also the son of a father who has remained single and has lived most of his life with his one true love that makes up his entire soul and life.'

' Radhu baby, All that credit goes to your father who might have been a father in name only but still treated us both like his own and never ever touched me or came close to touching me in all those 35 years. It is because of Anwar that you and I have stayed alive and have had a good life. Inshallah, both are saints and heroes in their own way.'

' You are right Ammi. I have the blessing of both Lord Shiva and Allah.'

Then she asked him,' Radhu, what are your plans? what are you going to do next?'

' I am leaving tonight to Madurai and once I am sure that she is safe, it is back to Chennai and back to finding the spider in the web.'

Then his voice became serious and filled with concern, ' Ammi, you know they will come for him very soon. They will not waste time or wait any longer, now that their men have gone missing.'

' Don't worry. I am ready and prepared and will deal with them. All the best, baby.'

Unknown and Nameless-13

The four of them were called by many names by people they knew and also by people they had no clue existed. The famous four, the secret four, the magnificent four, the four many army, the beautiful four etc.

They had all met each other here and there at some forgettable party or bash and over a period of many such uneventful events, they had gravitated towards each other and the gravity that pulled them together was the emotional baggage and pain that they all had inside their cores. They sensed this in each other and found solace in their common sorrow and not to forget the grudges that they harboured against their husbands and men in general.

Even Bhavna, prettier than the real Betty from the Archie comics mostly hated men and only made exceptions for the ones she felt attracted to and subsequently slept with. The other three had enough of men and their decisions were reinforced by the pathetic tales that Bhavna told them the next day but were good enough to listen, enjoy and laugh about.

So, it was a pretty rare event when Pallavi did not join the others for a few days at their usual evening haunts and which soon stretched into a week and then, they all got a call from her and were invited to join her for lunch at her house the next day.

All three of them had reacted the same way.

' Lunch at home and not in a hotel.'

'Lunch, so we are ordering in, right.'

' Lunch and you are cooking. Pallavi, are you all right, baby?'

Pallavi lovingly told them to shut up and asked them to be at her home at 12.30 pm the next day which was a Saturday.

Betty Bhavna had howled in anger, ' Pallavi, not tomorrow please, baby. I am meeting that hotshot hotel manager in a resort on ECR.'

Pallavi had told her to postpone it for the next week and to bring her horny a..e to her house the next day or else, she had warned.

Now, even among them, Pallavi was the unopposed leader and their queen bee and none of the other three had nay bad feelings about if for they all openly unacknowledged that she was simply the best among them by way of kindness and character.

So, it was agreed and Saturday dawned as all Saturdays do and one by one the three came in their expensive cars and smelling of expensive perfumes and Pallavi greeted them all with a hug and a kiss on both cheeks.