The Golden 80s

 Some images of front pages of newspapers after votes were counted on June 4, 2024 after a ridiculously long parliament elections.  Did the graphics team use AI for these images?

In an interesting news story on the plight of the people affected by coastal erosion , I noticed how the word ' sea erosion ' has been used throughout the story.  In this Mongabay India story about the east coast of India, 'sea erosion' appears 16 times in the story! The story is basically an anthropocentric one about the plight of the villagers and fisher folks affected by coastal erosion.  Back to early 1990s. In the university library, there were thick hardcover textbooks of Geology that I used to refer to during my MSc studies. Of all the textbooks, Alan Strahler's Physical Geography was the best for me. His textbooks were beautifully illustrated and excellently written. One will fall in love with the subject of Geology just because of his textbooks.  Thirty years later I bought a copy of Strahler's textbook. It is top class as always with vivid descriptions of additional topics and meticulous organization.  The book does not mention 'sea erosion' at...

New Scorpions Song : The first single that I heard from hard rockers Scorpions was Still loving You followed by the smashing Sails of Sharon . Meanwhile, the new single Rock Believer turned out to be disappointing. Setback to AI Hype : IBM's decision to sell off parts of its Watson Health business has come as a setback to AI nerds. In a tweet, Gary Marcus termed the decision as a "staggering collapse of its ambitious artificial intelligence effort". Another War : The Ukraine-Russian tangle dominated the week's headlines indicating the probable beginning of another cold war. Indian Cricket in Trouble : India lost the ODI cricket series against South Africa after a promising first test win in one of the final frontiers. The loss triggered the speculation that all is not well in the team. The series saw some poor batting, especially the middle order, and some pointless bowling. Neil Young Rocks Spotify : Alleging that Spotify is spreading fake information about vacc...

From this year, I have decided to post weekly updates about things that I have noticed more than others.  Joe Satriani's New Single Virtuoso guitarist Joe Satriani is back with a new single and new album. I and my friend watched the song, Sahara's, premiere on YouTube. The new single was an OK one similar to the songs in the Strange Beautiful Music album with the typical Satch flourishes, but it fell short of some strange expectations. The new album is titled  The Elephants of Mars . Covid-19: Kerala Imposes Sunday Lockdown My home state of Kerala went to a complete lockdown on two Sundays starting today after the Covid-19 positive infections spiked dramatically in many districts. The state capital and Ernakulam fared the worst, as there were reports and group messages of entire families getting infected. Meanwhile, Karnataka lifted the weekend curfew from Jan 22, but decided to continue with the night curfew.  Jacinda Postpones Marriage  New Zealand Prime Ministe...

If you think air pollution can be controlled by maintaining the status quo, then you are probably mistaken. Pollution is linked to our day-to-day activities. It is the stark reality. In Bengaluru, the primary reason behind air pollution is that there are lots of vehicles on the road, especially during peak hours. The more vehicles that you add to the existing number, then the air pollution will keep on increasing.  Air pollutants do not vanish overnight. They stay in the air and they will react with other chemicals to form toxic compounds that create eye irritation and respiratory issues. If night temperatures are less, the chemicals trapped in dense air will disappear next day only.  To reduce air pollution in Bengaluru, do the following: Reduce the number of vehicles This is the saddest and the most controversial solution that nobody will agree to. There are over 83 lakh registered vehicles in Bengaluru, says a report in the Deccan Herald newspaper. The city has to reduce i...

 I am not a big fan of India's prime time debates, especially those by the so-called national media. I still scour the print media for news and editorial views and social media for comments (both valid and stupid).  To me, most of the prime time debates are just one-sided cacophony and in a democracy like India these unprofessional conduct should have been regulated and punished long back. It may be the case that as a trained journalist, I can research more on the fare dished out and check facts and fake news by all forms of news media.  Such a luxury may not be available to all viewers and they then become the primary victims of targeted propaganda through social media.  Against this background, I was not at all surprised at the belligerence in which the anchor at NDTV was shouted at by an 'expert'. The discussion was about the booming stock market amidst a tanked economy and a pandemic.  Stock markets are not the best indicators of an economy . So it is ridic...

The India media's expertise is primarily on politics, cricket, entertainment, and business. Their forte is not on science, unlike other well-known publications like The Guardian or the New York Times. When I read the headline, Mandya's lake man to build 15th pond with award money , I was not all surprised. I was sure that normal readers may not find the words, Lake and Pond, that intriguing. A discerning reader or someone who have studied Ecology will notice that there is something wrong here. A lake and a pond are not the same thing strictly from an ecological science point of view. Of course, they are static water bodies of varying sizes. But there are obvious ecological differences. One is there are man-made lakes and there are lakes borne out of natural phenomenon such as volcanic eruptions, retreat of ice sheets and earthquakes. Technically, there are differences in the structure, energy flows, ecological stratification, flora and fauna, and so on. There is an intere...

In the India of early 90s, there were no CDs, DVDs, or mp3s. There were only audio tapes. And one among them was a recorded version of Malmsteen's Rising Force album. I, along with a few of metal friends, was overawed by the sheer creativity and neo-classical wizardry of Malmsteen's lead solos. There were a few who hang up their guitars, admitting that they cannot ever play like Malmsteen. Malmsteen along with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai was too much to handle in those days. In fact we did not want Malmsteen to join other bands. We wanted him to keep on releasing one classic album after the other. David Chastain faded into memory because of Malmsteen. I was overjoyed when I read Malmsteen is making his first visit to India, that too for a not much hyped festival in the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh . Disappointed that I could not go to watch the master, or think about going, I thought a post on Malmsteen is due. Let me share one of my favourite Malmsteen songs...

Delhi, the capital of India, is reeling under an outbreak of Dengue and Chikungunya fever. The Delhi chief minister was in Bengaluru for a throat operation and his deputy is reportedly in Finland. All hell has broken loose and there is utter chaos. Another terrorist attack killed 18 soldiers in Uri, bringing Kashmir to the international limelight again. The Indian public wanted immediate retribution across the border, reported the media. The public wanted the government of India to do something, an eye for an eye, to avenge the lost lives. In both the cases, the public belonging to all classes exhorted the government to intervene or perform a proactive role. Whereas in other matters, we often hear arguments that advocate a lesser and lesser government role, regulation and control. While national security and territorial integrity would invite governmental intervention, the outcry for lack of government intervention in areas like health and education illustrate another point. Muc...

Heavy rainfall in India not associated with global warming It is common nowadays to link spells of rainfall and the collateral damage they create to climate change. It is not the rains, but the urban mayhem and disaster bred by human incompetence, so characteristic of India, that is hyped by the breaking news hungry media. A report published in The Hindu newspaper says that "... extreme rainfall events over India do not have significant association with land surface air temperature over India and sea surface temperature over central Indian Ocean. .." The report, quoting a paper in Scientific Reports , says that the widely held belief that climate change is responsible over extreme rainfall patterns in the tropics does not seem to be true. The authors recommend that "...the changing patterns of extremes over the Indian subcontinent need a scientific re-evaluation, which is possible due to availability of the unique long-term in-situ data."

Most of the newspapers carry one or more editorials on all days except Sundays. Editorials state the newspaper's "editorial view" on matters of local, national, and international importance. They are actually official position of the newspaper about an issue and it varies from paper to paper. The main purpose of an editorial is to analyze, interpret, criticize, persuade, or praise issues of the day.  The structure of an editorial consists of the following parts: Lead or statement : The editorial starts with a statement opposing, criticizing, or supporting (which is very rare) a newsworthy incident. This explains the incident being referred to and provides essential details about the incident. This is important because the editorial may be written a few days after an incident. The explanation will also allow the reader to recollect the story if he or she has forgotten the details. Explanation : After the lead or introduction, the editorial will now explain the o...

Real estate: According to real estate honchos, India should grow at 8% (including environmental clearances), to grow economically and to create jobs. But for whom is this real estate growing? Not for the middle class or the poor. Definitely not. But a big yes for the filthy rich. Just see the apartments, duplexes, and penthouses on offer. They are just five-star luxury suites packaged for the rich in India. These are not the typical Indian homes that we all grew up and would want to live in. These Rs 6-10 cr luxury suites can be bought by the rich and those with black money. Or those who are willing to pawn their entire life to the bank and the real estate company. In the early 90s, it was alleged that the IMF and World Bank would enslave all Indians and herald the second colonization of India after the British. Even the World Bank miscalculated the potential of Indian businessmen. And in the 90s, we said so many things. We don't remember most of them. Youth : As a youth I als...

1 I love cricket. I like to waste time by watching cricket, even though the results many not be in line with what I want or like. Indian cricket fans know that. Team India will lose when we expect them to win; the team will win when we expect them to lose. Just like the lives of millions in this "developing" country and also the "Next Big Thing" in the world, we are used to frustration. Usually, the teams had the dressing room where the team, next batsmen, coach, and the 12th man used to sit and watch the game. But, somehow T20 heralded the arrival of a new term to cricket: Dugout. On checking at M-W.com, Dugout is "either of two low shelters on either side of and facing a baseball diamond that contain the players' benches." The key thing is "baseball". Yeah, baseball. With T20, cricket is or resembles baseball. Because, here, in T20, what matters is over the top ecstasy. Whether the batsmen can hit the maximum number of balls out o...

Ok. Hard rockers Wolfmother is gonna play live in India for the first time. The band will play in Hyderabad on March 8, at the BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, says the Bookmyshow website. The band rocked to fame with their retro-rock sounding hit, Woman , but my favourite song from the debut album was White Unicorn . And there is no special reason why I like this song.

After Dengue and Chikungunya, now it is the turn of Hanta virus suspected behind deaths reported from the state of Kerala. Madhu, a 43-year-old rubber tapping worker, died a few weeks ago and is suspected to be a victim of the virus, says The Times of India newspaper. According to The Hindu newspaper three suspected cases of Hanta virus were reported, but these cases proved positive for Scrub Typhus as well. While the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), the premier biotechnology research centre in the capital city, stated that the deaths are caused by Hanta virus, the state Health Department reportedly disputed it. Hanta Virus infection leads to the fatal Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), says the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website. Earlier symptoms include fever, headaches, muscle ache, stomach problems, and chills. Later, shortness of breath appears along with coughing. The virus can also cause the deadly Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome . Rodents ...

It is quite some time that the news channels based in Delhi and Mumbai keep mumbling on how the "youth" will usher in a new India in 2014 by casting their votes for the same old politicians. Huh! In an article on Mint , Sanjay Kumar, a professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, debunks the untested hypothesis unleashed by the media.  Excerpts from his article: "... Banking too much on the youth vote or the votes of the first-time voters may ultimately backfire, the reason being the Indian youth hardly votes as the “youth” or the “young”...Studies indicate the youth have never voted en bloc for any political party, at least not in the last five Lok Sabha elections (1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009). They have remained divided between various political parties like voters of any other age group are divided between various parties ..." "... It will be a gross misjudgement if someone believes the youth will determine the outcome of the 2014...

The phrase, Elegant Variation, was coined by Henry W. Fowler in The King's English (1906). The essence of that term will help Indian writers to understand how carefully one should write.  "...The use of pronouns is itself a form of variation, designed to avoid ungainly repetition; and we are only going one step further when, instead of either the original noun or the pronoun, we use some new equivalent..." Fowler then lays down two guidelines: "...It is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules, but two general principles may be suggested: (1) Variation should take place only when there is some awkwardness, such as ambiguity or noticeable monotony, in the word avoided. (2) The substitute should be of a purely pronominal character, a substitute and nothing more; there should be no killing of two birds with one stone." Try to practice it. It is very interesting.

There is nothing new in the current fracas over conservation and protection of Western Ghats . Except in Kerala's print and electronic media, you will not see any discussion on conservation of pristine land. Because this issue is not about sex, sleaze, celebrities, or cricket, right? Except periodic reminders from the legal system in India, the state does not have a pragmatic"environmental policy". We all know all documented policies are meant to be bypassed. All the political parties and all the intellectuals in India have no such view on the environment. The reason why I stress this "environmental view" is, you will not have policies and measures tuned to it when you stare at a blank space. Now, environment is just another hurdle to that final sanction for a project. For India, development is antithetical to environment. Environmnetal protection is another hurdle to development. Human beings and the array of systems that inhabit India are "outside...

Nobody questioned the real nonsense that happened: the fact that the ordinance to save the convicted elected representatives went to the President without much opposition from all the “clean” parties. In a democracy like India, all opposition parties are “clean”. When these opposition parties become the rulers, the then opposition become clean. That exactly is how an average Indian understands Indian politics. The media just propagates this theory. So, the same democratic, objective media did not vehemently question why the bill was created in the first place and why the ordinance was rushed through. No media questioned or even wondered why we did not see live telecast of thousands holding candles near India Gate unlike some time in the past. We also did not see the “saviours of Indian democracy” performing a satyagraha stunt or wage another televised version of freedom struggle. We did not see anyone waving the Indian flag, or music concerts to save India. And when Rahul Gandhi ...

It is known that the GDP figures hyped by the media to credit or discredit political formations in India do not "account" the environmental damage caused by the so-called "Development." There were seminal papers published that questioned the entire economics paradigm that still stood united behind the GDP as the yardstick for growth. But, Indian economists and foreign-educated ultra-liberal growth pundits have no time to read about Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) that accounts or discounts the environmental damage caused by mindless growth. (Renaissance took place in Europe, right?). Advocates of GPI do not claim that it is perfect. But while our journalists pillory governments over GDP figures, let us be aware that there are other perspectives to look at how growth is contributing to human and environmental welfare. Check this link: http://rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/genuine_progress_indicator.htm