Redefining Horizons

Shades of Grey We grew up with, for long in existence, binaries like, ‘yes, no’, ‘right, wrong’, ‘good, bad’, ‘kind, cruel’ and ‘friend, enemy’ etc. "With Us, Against Us" is a binary that took birth in US during the first Gulf war but is gaining currency, as political systems world over turns authoritarian. Binaries represent a judgmental choice or decision. Between the two finite elements of binaries, exist large swathes of neither, often referred to as ‘shades of grey’ that is either laboured on or ignored before arriving at conclusions. Though decisions appear merely as choice between the two sentinels of a binary, for the conscientious many a dilemma needs to be conquered and compromises made enroute to reach either. “To be or not to be” Decisions in life threatening situations are indeed instantaneous. The brain automatically carries out extensive high-speed scan of the situation in light of the knowledge already acquired, weighing innumerable permu...

  Choice and Consequence Violence and depression are not symptoms of Covid. Yet as Covid spread, incidence of depression and domestic violence, reportedly flared across the world. Experts explain these behavioural changes as response to emerging uncertainties. It is said that, prolonged uncertainty triggers anxiety, helplessness and loneliness. Severity of these states depend upon the ability of an individual to handle situations. Human response to external events stream through a ‘thought -emotions- behaviour’ channel, the characteristics of which is primarily dictated by the ‘philosophy of life’ evolved over time and internalised. Loneliness Loneliness is a state of existence, where one feels alone and abandoned.  An end-state of an event or events, real or perceived, loneliness is the beginning of retreat. It erodes self-esteem and aggravates the reinforcing cycle of anxiety and sense of loss. It decimates interpersonal connections forcing withdrawal into ...

  The Unimaginable Storage facilities overflowing, tankers, big and small unable to unload, oil has no takers and trades in the negative. As people shut themselves in, nations count and miscount their dead, diplomacy thick with accusations and counter accusations, economies bleed, businesses flounder and livelihoods vanish, mankind stares at endless uncertainty. We have even learnt to meet and greet from behind the masks. Mankind is now engaged in a strange battle for survival. Speculations aside, nobody knows for certain what lies ahead. But everyone agrees that in the wake of the pandemic comes unprecedented fiscal chaos, large scale lay-offs and unemployment. World wars and cold wars, put together, couldn’t shake mankind the way corona did. Not many of us could have ever imagined our lives like this. Life with corona will be the ‘ new normal’ . Ides of March and The New Normal The ‘new normal’, everyone speaks about and presupposes with certainty, is “c...

Silent Take-over? Ever since 2020 dawned,  world has been compulsively riveted to ‘covidian’ statistics - the infected, recovered and dead. Incidents of heroism, sacrifice and stupidity add realism and uncertainty to the emerging survival story. In its attempt to contain the pandemic through social distancing, the world locked itself down. To survive with minimal damages, organisations, that could remotely pursue business, took the ‘ Work-From-Home’ (WFH ) route, effectively taking over homes.  WFH keeps hopes alive but could soon be the new norm. Irresistible Goldmine Creating office Space at Home    Irritable  domestic disruptions notwithstanding, internet  generally  ensured seamless connectivity helping entities overcome restricted work-related movement, imposed by lock-down. Though organisations, especially production places mandating physical presence, reported loss of business, many where work could progress without such...

Better Than The Best God's Own Country Kerala’s fight against COVID-19 has been remarkable.  The e fficiency with which the state managed the pandemic is trending on social media.In the ‘covidian’ fight, Kerala has proved to be better than the best. Miles ahead in many social indices, other Indian states will take eons to catch up with Kerala. Crumble Zones Amidst euphoria of ‘success’ against COVID, some disturbing headlines also appeared . These were about Karnataka sealing its borders, Tamil Nadu controlling flow of goods, dumping of 80,000 litres of milk, protest by migrant workers, ‘nokku kooli’ (gawking charges) problems, impending return of jobless expatriates, loss of revenue from liquor sales, death of patients denied medical care and an estimated loss of 80% GSDP, each a pointer to socio- economic crumble zones integral to the state. Fragile and heavily dependent food security, inadequate industrial production, industry-unfriendly environment, e...