Observations, Thoughts and Stories as they form in the mind!
Author: Jeemol
Training as an Economist has stifled my writing, Hoping that blogging will release my creative writing spirits!! This blog is dedicated to the loving memory of my father C.I.Unni, who would have loved these random outpourings! Credit for the title of the blog goes to my daughter!!
I also blog and 'iphone photo shoot' my travels across the world. Do visit at
https://unnilogstravel.wordpress.com/
With the pandemic, we had a sudden closure of all economic activity. CMIE reported that in April 2020 unemployment rate remained at a high rate of 23.5 percent. The decline in employment is not gender and caste neutral.
We reached the spot and it was incredibly beautiful. It was also freezing in May, as a cold wind was blowing from the West. We ran back to the car to get our winter gear, sweater, jacket, muffler, gloves!!
It was only 4.00 p.m. and the wind had dropped. We were very close to the lake near the village and decided to walk down to it. The scenery with the lake, mountains, waves, rocks on the shore was magnificent. The view was panoramic. We found a comfortable rock and sat down on it to enjoy the calm, serene, atmosphere of the Pangong Lake!
The water was clear and you could see the large rocks and pebbles at the bottom. The waves lapped against the shore. The water was deep blue at the extreme end near the mountains, lighter shades of blue in the middle and nearly sea-green close to the shore. I was mesmerized as usual by the expanse of water and lulled by the sound of the little waves breaking on the shore. I needed to capture it for posterity and so here is a short video. I was adventurous enough to touch the cold water and run when the waves touched my toe. A little, probably Scandinavian, kid was wading in the water in shorts with his mother encouraging him to do so! My partner tried his favourite trick. He picked up some flat stones and tried to throw it flat across the lake. First attempt one bounce, second attempt two bounces, and third attempt two bounces again. Not Bad! Bravo!
The changing colour of the Lake and of the Changchenmo Range of mountains to the North as the sun fell on different parts was equally mesmerizing! I remembered our Scientist friend who urged that children should be taken to the ocean and mountains to get the ‘sense of infinity’. The snow covered mountains on the Eastern side of the Lake are in China, the larger part of the Lake being with them. This apparently is the reason why no boating or any sports activity is allowed on the Lake.
Ladakh is a ‘Cold Desert’, but the snow-capped high mountains ensure that there is a stream of water trickling down during part of the year. These form little rivulets, streams, rivers and lakes. We witnessed a confluence of streams, rivers and lakes in our week in Ladakh. As expressed in my blog post on “Soothing water front experience”, I love large bodies of water and ‘blue space’, water or sky! Not all water bodies in Ladakh were blue due to the continuous erosion of the soil and rock from the surrounding mountains. But still their effect was captivating.
Our first view of the meandering River Indus was from the top of the Spituk Gompa, a Ge-lug-pa Monastry built by King Gras-Pa-Bumlde in the 14th Century. On one side of the hill was the view of the Leh airport and on the other was the meandering River Indus with a…
A Webinar on 'Impact of the COVID Lockdown on the Informal Economy' was conducted by the Indian Society of Labour Economics, in collaboration with the Institute of Human Development, Delhi, where I was the main speaker. The Indian government announced a Rupees 11 lakh crore (11 trillion) stimulus package for the economy. The announcement was … Continue reading Webinar Recording-Impact of COVID19 Lockdown on Informal Economy in India
'The Door' is a novel by Magda Szabo, a Hungarian writer. I was struck by the similarity in the climax to the Hindi writer Yashpal's short story 'Parda'. In both the stories when tragedy strikes, 'the door' and the 'parda', meaning curtain, drop or are torn apart, leaving the stark reality staring in the face of the spectators and the reader.
The writing of Jorge Luis Borges is like a Maze, a surrealistic maze. I read his book 'Labyrinths', a very good title to this collection of some of his classic short stories, essays and parables. The style of writing is unique and each of these are more complex than the previous. Borges was born in … Continue reading Jorge Luis Borges: A Maze of Surrealism
Today seems to be my day for exciting news on launches of MOOC course and a BOOK, in both of which I played a part. Both on Women's Work and Informal Employment. And both launches on Labour Day, May 1, 2020. Labour
Macroeconomic Shocks: No second chances for women: The lessons of demonetization for this crisis are clear. Women will be pushed out of the workforce and not get a second chance to find another economic activity. At the same time, men will also face the push but many will try to reinvent their career through changes.
'Laughter is the best medicine' is a popular saying. Well, not always, as there are a lot of unfortunate events all around the world where laughter is no medicine at all. Still it is interesting to see humour pop up all around and creative juices working overtime in the virtual world. The virtual world is … Continue reading COVID19-3 Laughter is the best medicine
This is the second post in the series on COVID19! The first was a humorous take on the perils of online teaching and working from home. This post, COVID19-2, is more fact than fiction where I argue that the coronavirus attack is partly a result of our own doing!
COVID19-Gujarat government ordered schools, colleges and universities to suspend classes. My university decided to shift to online teaching. Thought: Within the first day, I began to miss the noisy children on campus and the naughty ones in my class.
Homo Deus is a fascinating account of what can become of Homo sapiens with the expanding frontiers of science and the new technology such as, bio engineering, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Harari predicts that the human agenda will focus on how to counter old age, remain in a permanent state of happiness and being Homo Deus, God!
