Mousumi Says

Love in the time of Corona

Its been more than five months the world is enmeshed in the web of Corona, and when we’re going to get over it for good is still not certain. In the written history of mankind, there isn’t any instance of all encompassing pandemic like we’re inflicted of right now. Not a single nook of the earth is spared from its tentacles. The world is grappling with not only physiological but psychological and emotional consequences. People are puzzled.

What history do tell us that human race is the king of adaptation they eventually come round to every obstacle in their way, find a diversion and move forward. This crisis isn’t going to be any exception, man will emerge victorious , eventually. Its only the matter of when?

Meanwhile, what we common folks do? Just to keep our sanity intact and make the most out of the given situation. Keep on worrying is not going to solve the problem at hand but cool and calm introspection will. I am going to talk about the relationship domain of the couples whether married or otherwise.

The relationships which were on steady keel have suddenly finding themselves on unsteady ground. All the previous routined and busy life of handling the workplace and home together has gone for a sea change. Work from home,indefinitely closed schools and colleges and incessant lockdowns are compelling families to spend a greater period of time in close proximity of each other.

What people earlier used to crave have been handed on a platter. Inevitably, after initial bonhomie, the novelty of the situation has somewhat worn off. Each one seem to have started getting on the other’s nerve. Earlier either of the spouses would always had best of their behaviors and love for each other. Now the situation has turned itself on its face, forcing them to spend most of their times in closer confines of a home.

More time together means more masks to fall off the either faces! In modern times, patience and perseverance is evidently scarce in mankind, they take very little time to call it quits rather than working on the relationship.
Quitting a relationship which was committed till death do them part, has become common place. The reason behind it is utter disregard for the common cause. Today each is to it’s own, fiercely self dependent and nursing a larger than life egos. Consequently no body is ready to ease their armour an inch to accommodate the other one’s wishes and desires.
Why not take this situation as advantageous one and begin from the beginning to know each other better and show them sincerely that you do care for other half. Then only being better halves would ring true. Let the love, which had somewhat got faded in the vagaries called day to day life, blossom again. Use this enforced pause to rediscover each other which is indeed long over due as everyone seemed to be neck deep immersed in their respective careers. Leave the smartphones behind, spend some quality time, laugh and chat together over a cup of tea as one used to do in their courting days. Forget about the pandemic, make each other realize, the other half really matters. Don’t say anything rash which could dent the other heart permanently. If one do, say sorry immediately to retrieve the relationship and the bond build so assiduously. Don’t let it go waste. Toast to love and companionship. Stay happy.
Adieu for now.

Exorcising the Corona Ghost.

Hello friends, the sun is rising and setting down but the new dawn, enlightening the mankind about the possible way out from the mess called Corona virus infections, still looks elusive. A possible panacea is believed to be the vaccine, the entire world seem to be running after, but that also not looks to come about anytime very soon. What to do? We just can’t any longer cease our selves down dreading it like a ghost, yes ghost, what better word is there to describe it. Another apt example I saw in today’s Times of India edition was the snap of a snail on a razors edge, it is equally hurting balancing or proceeding back or forth, that is the situation of humans, jokes aside, we do have to find a way forward instead of getting despondent any more.
The best possible role model to follow is the way of life of South Korean and Japanese people, they didn’t opt for total lockdown, went on with their daily lives, but resorting, at the same time, enough precautions to safeguard themselves from catching the infection. They strictly follow the personal discipline of abiding by the dos and don’ts, that is to wear masks, gloves, follow social distancing disinfecting their place of work and home alike and also going extra mile to enhance their immunity with home remedies. How ever much we tend to scoff on home remedies but indeed it work wonders if we do persevere with them. They them selves go on self quarantine getting a slightest whiff of the virus around them.
Do the above things are very tough to follow? No of course not. The inherent lack of discipline and patience, is pulling us down again and again into the quagmire of pandemic. Yet we dogmatically failing to see reasons. There would be very few, whom are ignorant of the necessity of adherence to above rules to keep themselves on the safer side, the well known defiance to flout the rules is coming as the roadblock on the way. We still feel it necessary to visit crowded bazaars or chat in the roadside corner enjoying a cup tea and that in close proximity, without masks, running to catch the crowded bus, spitting in the public places with impunity without any concern for hygiene.
I do acknowledge that most of the citizens trying their best to follow the dictat, it’s the few who don’t are giving the game away. A single loose end is allowing the virus to prowl on as much victim as they can lay their hands on, unprotected. I sincerely urge each and everyone to follow the rules and stay from the harms. The desperate time need desperate measures, where there is will, there is a way. Stay safe and healthy.
Adieu for now.

The Old Normal Childhood

Hello friends, hope , all are bearing the consequences of Covid 19, with fortitude, adjusting to the new normal with a practical, careful and positive outlook. There is a saying that if you can’t beat them, join them, yes, we have to learn to live with the still indomitable and seemingly imperishable virus around for a fair amount of time to come. If President Donald Trump donning a mask is not an indication then what it is! The coping mechanism of a young and impressionable children is not very hard to fathom, it appears that their free and careless childhoods has been bound to the four walls of our houses and flats. It really should fill us, the grownups, with utmost remorse. Our previous thoughtless actions are to blame for the predicament children are finding themselves in, and yet, no body knows the way out of this mess in near future.
Their hopeless situation can be best interpreted by a simple incident I witnessed in an adjoining park, which was earlier used to be bustling with the noise and laughter of numerous children, which I always took for granted, but now, can vouch for how acutely I miss them after several rounds of lockdowns. The incident in question is about a five year old and his father during the official unlock 2, they had come one bright morning into the park, the tiny tot was wearing a jersey like Tshirt and knee length socks, obviously pointing towards his father’s aspiration of making a successful footballer out of him. After getting the required tips from the father, the child was going through the grind of a proper work out. My heart ached to see the little one going through the motion as mechanically as he could, devoid of his heart or soul into it. For a little over half an hour the said exercise continued then both of them left. Most probably this was the quota of outdoor activity allowed to him for the day. Isn’t it absolutely pathetic, we’re the culprit of stifling their laughter, joy, and the quintessential naughtiness and mischief, for the circumstances created by us. Before the pandemic the scenario wasn’t very rosy for them as we parents were forcing the burden of our own aspirations and wishes down their throats, making them go through the rigors of school, tuitions, coachings and so on, leaving them very little time to play to their heart’s content. Now they have become practically the animals confined in a zoo.
The irony of the situation is that the children are not complaining either. It is not hard to guess why? Right, no matter which age group they belong to unless they know how to flex their fingers, most of them are heartily engrossed to their smartphones, laptops, tablets or desktops interacting in social media platforms, playing video games or attending e-classes. They are utterly oblivious about their plight of being cooped in for months without any school, college or hang outs or the play times.They seem to have no qualms about their lack of physical exercise or banterings they have had with their friends, because they are all doing it virtually!
I sometimes crave, can the children ever again go back to scouting adventures or climb the guava trees, gather the raw mangoes , green peas or tomatoes from the farms and relish them or play ‘gilli danda’ or ‘kho- kho’! The dream seems to be rather farfetched. But when the horror of pandemic behind us for good and old normal returns, let’s take an oath, we shall try to retrieve the old normal childhood and restore them to the children. They really deserve it, don’t they, to realise what they are missing out on.
Adieu for now.

The New Normal World Order.

The year 2020 is quite proving itself as a year of churning, dishevelling and upsetting everything that was normal before. All the world order, social customs and interactions have undergone a sea change Anything no longer the same again, the incorrigible Covid 19 has put paid to that. The entire world is clueless about how to contain it. More they are trying, more its spreading it’s tentacles over the mankind. After 4th July Independence day celebration in America the graph of Coronavirus infection seems to be alarmingly going northward, Australia has to close down the borders after a gap of 100 years, when it was stuck with Spanish flu, lockdown enforced in cities like Melbourne. Brazil and India are grappling with their 2nd and 3rd status in Covid infections, even the Brazilian President Bolsonaro has been diagnosed positive . This is indeed an unprecedented dilemma the world is facing. Surprisingly China has declared its Wuhan virus free more than a month ago while others were bracing for the havoc.
In the new normal scenario, it is China , playing absolutely truants . Instead of showing due empathy to the fellow victim countries or acknowledging the guilt of being the country of origin and the spreader one, it has simply decided to fish in muddy waters. The unprovoked border aggression over India is simply as uncalled for, as it’s antics in South China Sea and Hong Kong . Initially it has tried to don the mantle of a savior of the world from the pandemic but subsequently got rattled by the adverse world opinion on it’s substandard test kits , PPEs and medical masks and immediately changed its agenda, that’s to threaten the world into submission. Now the cases of Bubonic plague is getting itself manifested in a province of China. The world needs to be extremely wary of that ,should remain as much on its guard as it could.
All the countries of the world, facing the crisis require to be pragmatic in its approach as the virus is practically knocking every door steps. The tackling of the virus medically and simultaneously keep the economy from falling face down, seems to be a daunting task. No country is in a position to help the other one out because everyone is facing the same problem of their own. The best bet is to each find their own solution.
Unfortunately there is no past benchmark for the countries to fall back on , how to go about it. The scenario seems to be unparalleled in history. The pandemic like SARS, MERS have fizzled away after a point of time but Covid is showing no sign of abatement . All are pinning their eyes on the upcoming vaccine to the disease. Meanwhile we as citizens can try our best to boost our immunity and fight individually against the virus, persevering with our masks whenever we go out, sticking to the norms of social distancing. The use of mask should be followed by us on all costs since scientists are now indicating the virus could be airborne , that means it can linger as air droplets for a longer time in closed spaces. So we must be extra cautious in avoiding AC rooms filled with people as in offices. Factories and industries must provide better ventilated conditions for their workers.
Lets hope the mankind will get victorious eventually against Corona, very soon. We shall overcome!
Adieu for now.

Hail the PM.

This afternoon when I switched on the news channel, the sight of our Prime Minister striding along the helipad of Nimu, Laddakh, made me thrilled and surprised which is precisely what, he intended to produce among Indian citizens and to the world at large. The dashing personality he presented and the speech he gave was certainly a moral booster, no doubt, not only for our military but us all. The surprise element was phenomenal, the presence of PM Modi in the front line was clear signal to our adversaries like China and Pakistan that we’re not dithering and know quite well how to grab the bull by its horn. We don’t baulk from looking the enemy into its eye .
In today’s warfare stratagems, mind games, plays a crucial role, and our PM has certainly gone one step ahead in establishing himself as a man firmly in control on the saddle, which I was emphasizing in my earlier blog. The move has naturally succeeded in sending unambiguous message to who ever it may concern that we’re not running away from taking bolder steps as per the need. He very aptly mentioned Lord Krishna in his speech addressing the army men, saying that Sri Krishna liked to sway the world with his fascinating flute but at the time of emergency, never shirked from taking up the Sudarsan Chakra to vanquish the evil.
History is the proof that lndia was never the aggressor but she is not going to tolerate the unprovoked aggression and that too, amidst the world grappling the pandemic spread from Wuhan. Such brutal killing of twenty Indian soldier was totally uncalled for and we have to make sure that the perpetrators are not going to get away easily. They must learn once and for all, that India means business and brook no excess or injustice meted out to her by any one.The 1.3 billion people of the nation and many more living abroad are strongly and determinedly behind our leader and ready to go to any length to assuage any harm done to her self. The banning of Chinese apps like Tiktok, stopping the Chinese investments, scrapping big government contracts and screwing up the flow Chinese imports are indeed the right step in the direction to hit them economically as hard as we could. We have to inflict as much damage to the enemy where it hurts most, if some of it below the belt, so be it, as everything is fair in love and war.
Earlier, we had numerous times went soft on our enemies when they pleaded for mercy as in the case of Prithvi Raj Chouhan, we used to let them off the hook, and eventually backstabbed by them as Muhammad Ghori did. But not anymore, we should be decisive in tackling our present enemies. There is indeed a saying that we should not leave a single enemy go scot free, and crush the head of the snake by trampling down our feet, once and for all, so that it could never raise its head to bite us back in the future. No more beating around the bush. Wish power and perseverance to us.
Adieu for now- Mousumi Mukherjee.

Calling the Chinese Bluff.

The nefarious and sinister designs, the diabolic China currently implementing on India and the world at large is so obvious and in your face that a novice in the matter could comprehend what it is upto. After building up a relentless campaign of a formidable military and economic might, now it is readying itself to rule the roost and create a hegemonistic terror among the countries which it considers as an impingement on its aim to become the lone super power by hook or by crook. After bringing the entire world on its knees by unleashing the wrath of Covid 19 , it feels, now is the time. The iron is hot,bring it to blows and mould it according to the plan hatched by it’s rulers. That is to arm twist the world into submission without incurring major military or economic losses. It is quite plain to the eye that it is pursuing its goal rather aggressively and assiduously. Should the world allow it to go on in it’s catastrophic marches. Never ever, because then it would mean victory of evil over good and conscientious.
After leaving Europe and America reeling over the Corona crisis and ensuing economic fallout, the UN practically rendered tooth less, China has now started to browbeat it’s neighbors to fall in line. Killing 20 Indian soldiers ìn Galwan valley, forcing Security laws down the throat of Hong Kong ,encroaching the islands under jurisdiction of Japan, Taiwan , bullying each and everyone in South China Sea, inciting logistic countries like Nepal, Bhutan , somewhat Bangladesh and of course Pakistan, against India,threatening countries like Australia with economic sanctions are all the telltale indications for the world to see and ponder upon and make a suitable, collective and immediate strategy to contain the marauding China. It has indeed successfully built a terror inducing image of a fierce dragon one would think twice to mess with.
The need of the hour is, the world specially, India, to call it’s bluff and to show it the mirror. I will give you two examples. The first is of actor Sanjeev Kumar in the movie, Pati Patni aur Woh, in which he was advised by his friends in the beginning of his marriage to actress Vidya Sinha, to hold the bridle over his wife tightly and started to order her about and to do his bidding immediately, threatening with the word, do it now or else?!His wife tried her level best to satisfy him, in the process she was getting exasperated and exhausted. Then one day, after being ordered by him to give hot water for him to bath, she cried foul and called him out, she wouldn’t comply, else what? Now the husband instantly fell in line and replied meekly that he would bathe in cold water. Here you can easily relate the husband to China and the wife to any other hapless country . My next example is the famous India-Australia cricket rivalry during the time of our own Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting. The Australians under him were quite infamous for playing mind games and resorted to sledging in order to terrorize and rile up their adversaries. It was in fact paying them rich dividends but Sourav was first to call their bluff and decided to pay them in their own coin, he and his teammates began to sledge them back. The much reviled monkey gate crisis between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds ensued. In consequence their invincible image got a beating and subsequently got vanquished in their hand.So friends, no need to say who’s who!
We must stand forcefully and determinedly against the evil designs of China then only it would realise its folly. With the unabated agression on Indian territories in Laddakh and elsewhere, stooping to salami slicing tactics , it has indeed awakened a sleeping tiger. Its time for India to pull its act together and confront them resolutely with all our might .If they’re powerful then we’re not far behind, we have the capability to inflict far reaching damages to China. Because God helps those who help themselves . Remember at the end it is always the victory of good over evil. Be confident and let’s fightback.
Adieu for now- Mousumi Mukherjee

A Way Out

So friends, now is the time to start in the right earnest to clean up our act as well as our mother earth from the mess ,we have been guilty of creating ourselves. Have a look at the city dumping grounds which are literally bursting at the seams or for that matter, at the oceans surface taken from satellites ,we will see, large surface area covered with plastic, polybags pet bottles and all.We just can’t go on thinking, what to do? What I can possibly do to stop it any further?Do a lone effort really matter? But friends, drops of water indeed go on to fill up a pail, a pond ,a river, than an ocean. We must give it a real try!
The sight of so much polybags we bring into our homes along with the the bought articles ,genuinely fill my heart with untold guilt pangs. The shopkeepers and street side vendors seems to have no qualms in providing extra carry bag,mostly on our insistence.They might be unaware of the repercussion but we’re not yet we do it with great impunity. When government is shirking its responsibility to ban them we must take the cudgel to rectify it. How? You see, if we neatly fold them after offloading the articles it contains ,and keep them in our shopping bags, in the bags of office going members of the family and ofcourse in our vanity bags ,we can easily reuse them in our next shopping spree. No matter, impromptu, while returning from office or other work, or a planned expedition, the supply of polybags will always remain with us, we could offer them to the sellers for stuffing the purchased articles. Can you imagine how much polybags would be prevented from circulation, what say?
Now, the topic of discarded one time use PET bottles for packaged drinking water and the plastic cutlery we are offered with our ordered foods in the restaurants. How about carrying a spare water bottle, a spoon and a fork in the bags we happen to carry that too,without fail, as water filters are available in most public places we can fill up our respective bottles as per our convenience, and use our own cutlery for eating the ordered food irrespective of which place you are.
I do realize ,that the above steps are quite bothersome if not impossible to follow. If we are determined than it would soon become a habit We would automatically put these articles in our carry bags as we prepare to go out,as we tend to do with our mobiles, laptops , car keys and so on.
In the beginning there is a possibility that you may be laughed at but do remain stubbornly unfazed, people around you would come round eventually, or they might follow suit. Because,…where there’s will there is a way! Do start now I shall be waiting for your feedbacks. So don’t forget to oblige me with them. Adieu for now

— Mousumi Mukherjee.

A Ray of Hope

After passing through a really dark tunnel of general lockdown, a rare and phenomenal crisis faced by the entire mankind, aftermath of the vengeant onslaught of the willy and indomitable Coronavirus, the common people are now coming to terms with the aftermath .Earlier it was taken for granted that whatever steps to be taken for the collective good of the society and the nation was entirely the prerogative of the government. But now the scenario has undergone a seachange. People are taking matters into their own hands to change their destiny.
Its the innate nature of human resilience to fightback with all its might in the face of adversity, which is ultimately going to see us through.
It may seem like baby steps but they’re indeed going to prove like a milestone in future. For example,the news of carpooling by the employees of a firm living in the same area or the residents of society complex going to the same area for work decide to meet at common point after working hours and return home altogether ,is in fact quite endearing. In today’s world of social media it looks quite feasible for more and more people to adopt it. The problem of social distancing in public transport, traffic congestion, air pollution can be solved at one go,besides it spontaneously create an ambience of camaraderie among the cotravellers which is evidently lacking ,as people have cocooned themselves in their individual world. Each person is today is very lonely ,they have very little time to unwind themselves in the company of friends which also gets compounded by social distancing .If all starts following the example diligently it can also address the problem of depression which is aflicting a large section of society silently. In public transport each is to his own, this would not be same in this kind of carpooling. People would instinctively bound to open up and the ensuing sesions of conversations, might lighten their emotional burden in the their respective hearts.
Isn’t it a very interesting and innovative idea!In the beginning it may sound a bit odd or inconvenient, specially those who are accustomed to go to their office in their private cars but it may indeed prove worth it ,as they become habituated to carpooling. Above it, more and more IT firms are enabling the option of work from home for their employees, which would prove another milestone in human beneficial activity, one of the core benefit must be that it provides the members of the family to reconnect and the children get to spend more time with their parents.
So friends, the necessity is the mother of invention ! We must keep on inventing new ideas and steps to make the world a better and safer place to live.
Lets pledge to keep ourselves and others Corona free. Adieu for now.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

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Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
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