RIP Jeena Bhaina

 Sorry to inform that today my cousin, Chinmay Kumar Dwibedi (Jeena Bhaina), son of my mother's sister passed away from a massive heart attack in Bhubaneswar at his residence near Lewis Road. He was only 53 years old.

He had the stroke soon after 1 AM in night after he returned home. Ambulance was called which arrived late. No wonder it is said back home that a Pizza ordered arrives sooner than an Ambulance. He passed away on the way to the Care Hospital.

From what I know he had been ignoring his persistent chest pains for a while blaming it on gas and acidity. The disaster was waiting to happen as this time the stroke was fatal and left him without any scope for recovery. A case of sheer bad luck and a bit of negligence.

He is survived by his wife and a son, not to mention lots of childhood memories of us growing together. Difficult to fathom he would go away way too soon for comfort. Can't forget our jolly good times together - ANTAKHYARIs during childhood, attending common family functions, sneaking away to experiment with "Charms" cigarettes out of teenage curiosity, jumping into village pond and watching JATRA PARTY (Folk operas) along with other cousins during summer vacation at my maternal Uncle's house. Very difficult to fathom this sudden loss. May God bless his soul in heaven. Om Shanti. RIP Jeena Bhaina.

First Anniversary of Working from Home

 Today I completed one year of working from home which coincided with the first anniversary of Covid-19 Pandemic when it started to spread its tentacles in the United States and many other countries. Never in my wildest of dreams I thought of working from home for more than a year. Now here I am, still working from home and won't be surprised if I complete one more year doing the same.

As I complete a year of work from home, religiously social distancing, rubbing sanitizers and frequently washing my hands, I retrospect how a year of pandemic wheezed past and how it has impacted my habits. These days I shave only once a week. While I am reminded of the popular Palmolive Shaving Cream Commercial on Doordarshan, the only TV Channel available in India back in those days - "Kapil Dev, tough cricketer, tough beard". I am not a tough guy from any angle, but my razor stumbles on my stubble gained in a week, giving me a tough time. Shaving saga apart, so far I have managed to save my job as tens of millions of Americans join unemployed bandwagon every week. We are not out of the woods yet.

Two-third of US Economy is fuelled by consumer spending. I did not help Uncle Sam much by putting a break on my spending, as my expenses were inadvertently curtailed. No vacations, no trip to India, no restaurant visits. Even with record low gas price for most part of the past year, I rarely drove more than 10 miles a week. Filled gas in my cars only once every couple of months, as I don't commute to work. Under normal circumstances, I fill up my gas tank at least once every other week. Not anymore. That's a first time in America for me in nearly quarter of a century. 

Yet on a positive note, I help the environment. Lesser use of car means less emission of toxic greenhouse gases. My support to the environment doesn't stop there. Lesser use of Office resources like computer printouts, electricity, elevators, AC and so on. I can proudly proclaim of saving some trees and restricting the use of CFC (CloroFluoroCarbon).

When I feel bored I used to loiter around the local Groceries and Pharmacy Stores, Strip Malls (I usually avoid Malls. I feel them artificial and boring, though I love their food courts). Now I am the only person in my family who ventures out, very frugally no more than 2-3 times a week to buy groceries and run other errands. Define monotony.

I hate alcohol during the day. But the Coronavirus has forced me to do so - in the form of hand sanitizers and alcohol soaked hand wipes. While entering the store, I use hand sanitizer and after returning back to my car I use it again. I wash my hands way too often and way too long, thanks to this nouveau virus. Would have easily branded as SUCHIBAI ROGI (An Odia slang for a psychological patient with the habit of compulsive cleanliness, a tell-tale sign of insecurity). Just taking no chances. Have no desire to get infected and gift it to my family. Twitching the usual Odia proverb a bit - "HATHA DHOU THA, GUNA GAU THA" - Wash you hands, sing paeans of praise ( of COVID-19). So far (torchwood) I have managed stay safe the hard way.

My first tryst with Corona was not virus, rather a brand of shoes. During my childhood days there were only a handful of decent shoe stores in Bhubaneswar, prominent were Bata, Corona and BSC brand carrying stores in Unit II. I could relate Corona to a friend of mine who had this aura about him. His claim to fame was following the English music - ABBA, Boney M etc. There were hardly anyone to fact check on him. Often he used to sing something with snorted lips, which resembled "Corona Shoes.. my Corona Shoes....Shoooooes.. Whoooos". I was completely spellbound. Ignorance can be bliss, but it metamorphosed into sheer adulation for the guy. That's the only Corona I was aware of until the arrival of the virus bearing the same name last year.

On March 18th last year the Pandemic was its nascent stage. It could have been stopped at that point. Stopping the spread of a virus is akin to keeping a secret. If you know a secret and don't want it to spread, just don't tell it to anybody. When you are telling it to some one, the probability of keeping it secret gets reduced by 50%. If that person tells to another person it get reduced to 25% and so on.

A year down the road the cat is already out of bag. Like a gossip or rumor, diligent imposition of social distancing or quarantine could have stopped it from spreading further on March 18, 2020. Down the road one year from that point, now we have passed that stage. The disease already had spreaded its tentacles and claimed more than half a million in US 🇺🇸 , though the infection rate has gone down 70% from its peak in January.

A la a joke which becomes stale and people start losing interest after hearing it multiple times, people have become immune to the news of the death and spread of Covid-19. Yet there is still light at end of the tunnel vaccinations across the globe is gaining steam. In the past year humans lost the battle against the virus, but I am sure ultimately humans will win the war.

Naveen vs Joe Biden

 What's the similarities between Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, my state back home in India and Joe Biden, the President of the United States ? Apart from both being politicians, there are plenty other similarities.

Both came to power as their previous incumbents screwed up governance, especially during calamity and pandemic in respective lands. The Congress government mishandled the killer Super Cyclone of Odisha in 1999 to pave the path for Naveen Patnaik to ascend into power. Trump's administration made a complete mess of Covid-19 which cost him his reelection for Biden to step in. Both Naveen and Biden are suave and soft spoke but men of silent actions who eventually get their job accomplished.

Both are firm implementators of schemes and projects in contrast to their respective right wing opponents (BJP for Naveen and Republicans for Biden) who are good in rhetorics but short at action. Unlike his predecessors, Naveen has ensured that his populist measures like KALIA JOJANA (Scheme) and several other measures directed to the women and the poor are properly implemented for the recipients get the benefits. 

Unlike the Congress regimes prior to him when the intended beneficiaries rarely got the largesse, Naveen Patnaik's socialist doles have largely reached the doorsteps of the poor and downtrodden. It has helped immensely in enhancing his image with the larger section of the society as a go getter - a man who gets the job done, resulting in reaping durable political benefits.

On the other hand 10,000 miles away on the other side side of the globe, Joe Biden has started on a silent note unlike his loud mouth nincompoop predecessor Donald J Trump. No sooner he came to office, he hastened the roll out of Covid-19 vaccines which has resulted in 70% reduction in daily death and infection ever since he was inagurated as US President on January 20. Millions have already got vaccinated and Trillions of dollars as direct payments as part of the stimulus package are on way to jumpstart the moribund economy. 

The steps taken by Naveen Patnaik in Odisha is simple and direct for the poor people to feel, understand and translate into votes. Politics is after all a game of perception. During my last India trip when I went my village, I talked to several people on ground. Most of them heaved paeans of praise on him for the free rice and other doles they actually received unlike during the Congress regimes when they received a fraction of it. 

In America, Biden seems to have learned his lessons when he was the VP during Obama's Presidency. Obama did a fantastic job in salvaging the fledgling economy which was virtually on a free fall, handed over to him by an incompetent George W Bush. The recovery came slow for the commoners to recognize it on a mass scale, as the Republicans muddled the environment with Tea Party activism movement. But it is a different situation now during a bad economy when 70% of Americans including a large number of Republicans approve the $1.9 trillion stimulus package. Because it is the layman who is getting some real, tangible cash in hand to spend and sparkle a consumer driven economy. Most public, irrespective of political affiliation give a thumbs up to the rolling out of vaccines.

Politics is a matter of perception. In the game of perception both Naveen and Biden are winning. Their Right wing opponents, BJP in Odisha and Republicans in US respectively are a  clueless lot. They can't do anything more than just opposing for the sake of opposition. BJP in Odisha is confused and probably given up until Naveen's death. In America the Right wing media and Talk Radio are struggling to find a narrative against Biden when a big chunk of Republicans (a sizable number in a divided nation) are approving Biden's handling of Pandemic and the economy. Both Naveen and Biden are on firmly on the driver's seat - at least for now. 

Panikia - The Odia Multiplication Table

 Does anyone, especially from Odisha remember PANIKIA, the Odia equivalent for "Multiplication Table" taught to be memorized during our primary school days ? For most of us KODIEKA PANIKIA MUKHASTA or memorizing the multiplications from 1 to 20, e.g., (1 × 1 till 1× 10, 2 × 2 till 2 × 10, 3 × 3 till 3 × 10... 20 ×1 till 20 × 10) was challenging.

I managed to rote it by heart. Whenever someone would ask me "18 PANCHAA KETE" (what is 5 times 18) ? I would reply NABE (90) without having any clue how that figure is arrived at but would get accolades for doing MUKHASTA (memorizing) of PANIKIA. GHOSA (rote) or BALADIA (like a bullock) method of rote was the norm of those day. 

The person who remembers the most was considered the smartest, nurturing creativity always taking a backseat. Switching to D M school was a smart step. In the late 70s, the famed English medium school decided to take students from the Odia medium schools through an entrance examination, a written test followed by a personal interview for those who get through it.

Not very keen on travelling all the way to Unit IX from BJB Flats, I appeared in the Exam half heartedly. Thought that only a few will turn up for the Entrance Exam. I was wrong. To my surprise there were hundreds sitting inside multiple classrooms competing for only a handful of seats. Anyway, I managed to qualify in the written test.

Then came the invitation for the personal interview. I was sure it's going to be my Waterloo. During my interview a bunch of General Knowledge questions were thrown at me. I answered all of them correctly. I remember one question - what's A.I.R. stands for. I replied, "All India Radio". The last question was asked by Headmaster, Late Mr. K.C.Das himself. He asked me to name the author of the book "Good Earth". Pearl S Buck was my answer. 

The gentleman sitting next to him exclaimed - "ARRE BAH", complimenting me for being the first one so far in the interview to answer all questions correctly. Sri Das, Headmaster nodded in agreement. I came back, dismayed at the prospect of getting selected. My memorizing skills probably clinched me a seat to the arguably the most coveted school of the time in Odisha's capital. 

D M School had some excellent teachers who taught me go above and beyond roting and focus more on understanding. But my father who taught Physics and later his counterpart Mr. Raghu Nath Panda, my Chemistry teacher in College and Mr. Banamali Mishra, Math teacher and a moving encyclopedia taught me to how to think and analyze. 

I found Chemistry, especially the organic part of it extremely boring as I could not make any head or tail out of those complex equations. R N Panda Sir told me to come out of the mugging mode and try to understand the subject. In a few months Chemistry which was as tough as a teak stump to crack, felt as smooth as a hot knife through butter. I realized that the fun of learning lies in understanding, not in roting the subject which was unhelpful and strenuous.

Reminds me of this scene from iconic movie "3 IDIOTs". When the Hindi speech writer told Chatur Ramalingam to understand the text of the speech before speaking in public, he said "Don't worry, I will rote it". Then Aamir Khan who did the playful and witty role of Rancho went on to change the word "CHAMATKAAR" to "VALATKKAR" and so on in the script. We all know what happened to Chatur who read it out loud on the stage without an idea of what he was talking about. That famous scene from the movie reminds us the perils of studying without understanding.

Chatur memorizes a Sloka (hymn) in Sanskrit meant to eulogize his Principal and spits it out on the stage, without understanding a single word of it, not realizing that the original one was altered by Aamir Khan. As Chatur on the stage was about to vomit out the Sloka, the later warms his friends to get ready to hear some sermons about Chatur's farting prowess. Chatur recites:

UTTAMAM GAD GADATA PADAM,
MADHYAM PADAM TUCHAK TUCHAK;
THUR THURIYA KANISTAM PADAM,
SUR SURIYA PRANA GHATAKAM.

Roughly transliterated...

"Loud farts are majestically thundering;
Medium farts come along stuttering,
Small Farts arrive whisteling & sirening;
The silent ones can be life threatening."

As the crowd went berserk, poor Chatur got kicked out of the stage. Rancho's dark humor teaches us another lesson in academics - Knowledge acquired through roting sans understanding may earn you a Degree. Rancho tells this to his friend, "You can pass by roting and get a job, "LEKIN AGLE 40 SAAL TERA VALATKAAR HI HOGA" (you will be screwed all the next 40 years of your life). He stood so vindicated.

Sri Ghanashyam Mohapatra - the forgotten Odia movie maker

 We Odias are famous for being poor appreciators of those from our state who excell in the fields of art, literature, entrepreneurship and innovation. At the same time we are the champions of eulogizing Civil Servants. It is a classic trait of a feudal state and "GAAN KANIA SINGHANI NAKI" - Country girl, running nose syndrome. Making sure the message is not lost in transliteration from Odia to English, it simply means we ignore those of our own by making a pooh-pooh of their achievements.

So given an opportunity I contribute my 2 cents by highlighting those men and women from the current and previous generations from Odisha by making sure it gets to the larger audience through the social media platform of Facebook. I have already shared several blogs about such eminent personalities from my home state, from the Astronomer Pathani Samant and Utkalamani (Jewel of Odisha) Gopabandhu Das to Author Manoj Das and Filmmaker Nirad Mohapatra, and many more.

Until Chetana Samal my friend from college days and wife of Rasmi Ranjan Routray, friend from my Engineering days mentioned it to me the other day, I was barely aware of this gentleman named Ghanashyam Das from Odisha. In 2011, Odisha Society of America's Dallas Convention, she got a chance to watch the Odia movie 'Kanaklata' for the first time! She couldn't believe herself how beautifully the movie maker Sri Das had picturized the novelist Palli Kabi (Country Poet) Nanda Kishore Bal's 1925 book by the same name and that too, after 50 years.

This was one of the movies that was screened as part of inauguration of Calcutta Doordarshan. Sri Mohapatra was late in submitting this movie in 1975 for the International Film Festival as information was hard to get on time those days. Satyajit Ray immensely liked this movie made by an young man and actually Mrinal Sen had persuaded Sri Mohapatra to send the movie to the festival, like outside the competition category. This movie got rave reviews. It is the only odia movie which had a special screening for all Members of Parliament and later it was specially screened for then President of India, Nilam Sanjeev Reddy. Sri Mohapatra fondly remembers the word by word, introduction to this movie in Hindi, for the President.

Chetana and Rasmi spent a wonderful afternoon with the filmmaker and his family. He had laid out all his works showing her and talking about his career. In his twilight years too, he is full of energy and was happy to show us his works. It is very sad that such a man of talent could never be awarded even the smallest of Padma Awards. It's another matter that these Padma Awards had been so much politicized beyond redemption that there shouldn't be any remorse for not getting them.

That was the only movie Mr Das made with a loan from RBI. Later on he focused mostly on documentaries and he won a multitude of awards. He is known as Father of Documentaries in Orissa. The Old timers who are reading this posts should remember him. Thanks Chetana for giving me the opportunity to pen a few words about him. May God give him a long rewarding life.

Cornwallis and his tryst with history

 It was October 17, 1781. A bunch of so called rag tagged farmers as ridiculed by British under the leadership of George Washington forced General Cornwallis (later to become Lord Cornwallis, the Governor General of India) to surrender. America 🇺🇸 had already declared itself independent 5 years ago in 1976. The surrender of Great Britain was a matter of formality. 

In the iconic movie "The Patriot" when Cornwallis was cornered by American revolutionaries and staring at defeat, his compatriot generals were reluctant to surrender, still disillusioned with the notion of British supremacy and infallibility. But Cornwallis was prudent enough to beat the retreat rather than face any further humiliation and gotterdammerung, as he knew he was on a losing ticket.

The myth of the invincibility of English power was shattered. The Great Britain wasn't looking so great anymore. Its colony America convincingly defeated it, with quite a bit of help from the French which vindicated the adage - DUSHMAN KI DUSHMAN DOST HOTA HAI (Enemy's enemy is a friend). No doubt the French contributed its formidable military and diplomatic support to defeat the British in America and became first state to recognize the United States.

The British morale was at its lowest ebb. The future of its empire which it prided as "Sun never sets over British empire" was at stake. It's ego was tarnished and trampled in Yorktown, Virginia after its forced surrender of the English Army. But the icing of the cake, its new colony of India 🇮🇳 inside where it was on an expansion spree wasn't looking so good as Tipu Sultan, the King of Mysore was giving it a run for money. 

A dejected Cornwallis returned back to England and five years later he had to go on a voyage to India as the Commander-in-Chief of the British India Army to secure its empire there. The iron was hot. The English were most vulnerable at the time. It was the time for India to deal the final blow to the British occupation. Tipu Sultan had already defeated the British in the second Anglo-Mysore and forced them to a sign a treaty in Mangalore.

The French sensed an opportunity and tried to teach the English a lesson in India. They had to relinquish India not so long ago which the French General Joseph Dupleix almost managed to drive away the British. Now after successfully helping the Americans to defeat British they were anxious to replicate the same in India by extending their help to Tipu Sultan.

But unfortunately for India, history had something else written in its fate. The French connection wasn't much fruitful due the inopportune time of internal turmoil in France with the advent of the French revolution. But still Tipu could have put the final nail in the British coffin if the Marathas and Nizam of Hyderabad supported him (the other powers of the yesteryear, the Mughals and Rajputs were already a spent force).

It didn't happen. British, the master of divide and conquer policy managed to keep the Nizam and Marathas away from Tipu and finally defeated him. It was the last, real opportunity for us to force a Brexit ahead of time, but we missed the boat.

The British tried its classic divide and rule policy in America too, but spectacularly failed as its founding fathers, especially Benjamin Franklin could foresee it and spread the message to the Americans to stay united in his journal "Philadelphia Gazette". But divided along the lines of caste, creed, religion, ethnicity and plagued by serious regionalism and factionalism blended with parochial outlook we provided the British the perfect recipe to divide and rule. Cornwallis succeeded in India when he failed in America. History has taught us so many lessons. One among them -United we win,  divided we fall.

Rihanna and the aftermath of her tweet

 I just heard her name. Never have listened to a single song of her. Now Rihanna is a house holder name in India by virtue of her Twit sympathizing with the ungoing farmer's agitations in and around Delhi.

The singer wanted to get some free publicity. She got it and we did a fabulous job at fulfilling her desire by straight walking into her trap. Forget Rihanna, many back home who themselves and non in their 14 previous generations from both sides of parents knew about pop music have suddenly become her critics. Not to be left behind our External Affairs Ministry has jumped too fast, too soon protesting her tweets, double dipping the attention she is got. We drool over any attention we can get from Westerners.

If an Akshay Kumar or Kangana tweets about some demonstration in US, will the President of US, the Democrats or the Secretary of State will give a damn ? I don't think so. Rihanna is accused of being a foreigner interfering in India's internal matter. Akhshay Kumar, the actor who is incidentally a citizen of Canada is considered as a hero for supporting the BJP led government. The diehard Bhakts sing eulogies of Akshay Kumar - no matter he being a Canadian citizen, at the same time accusing Rhianna as a foreigner. Double standards is our forte and no wonder we are World's Champion hypocrites.

Didn't a good section of folks in India whole heartedly supported Trump during the last US Elections, a clear case of interference in the internal affairs of a country ? What you call them ? Did we

forget that a certain immature Prime Minister was dancing in a stadium in Texas proclaiming - AB KI BAAR, TRUMP SARKAR (Next time it will be Trump's government) in a different country ? Can't it be construed as interference in the internal matter of another nation ? 

In the quest of getting publicity the girl and this man aren't a whole lot different. What a stupid thing to do by the leader of billion plus people when Netanyahu, his Israeli counterpart and a close associate of Trump didn't publicly endorse the later. Both are Prime Ministers, but similarities end there. One is a seasoned, mature leader, one is a myopic person prone to preposterous histrionics.

In meantime some Right wingers are branding the Sikh protestors as secessionist Khalistanis. The Bhakt brigade and RSS folks who rarely serve in military are questioning the patriotism of Punjabis who form the backbone of our defense forces. 

They should not forget that during partition riots in 1947 when Hindus were killed and their women raped in today's Pakistan, the RSS leaders ran away with their tails well tucked between their hind legs. At that time Sikhs provided a formidable resistance and came to the rescue of the Hindus. Now from their armchairs the Bhakts are accusing Sikhs of being unpatriotic.

Finally the BJP led government has procrastinated the law for one and half years as it chickened out. Why ? The UP Election is just one year from now and further fiasco can cost BJP the state of UP. And losing UP couple of years before the 2024 General Elections doesn't augur well for BJP. 

A party which prides itself as - JO KAHTA HAI SO KARTA HAI (What it says is what it does) has spectacularly failed to deliver yet again. After coming to power in 2014, sans scrapping the controversial Article 370 in Kashmir, BJP has failed to implement its agenda - from Demonetiziton, GST to the latest Farm Bill. So much for the party with a difference !!!